Court Correspondent :
A Dhaka court yesterday set February 4 as the date for the hearing of the Niko graft case against BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and 10 others.
Special Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of the 9th Special Judge Court of Dhaka on Tuesday passed the order at his courtroom of the newly-built Building No.2 in front of the Keraniganj Central Jail.
The hearing was scheduled to be held on Tuesday, but the jail authorities could not produce Khaleda Zia in the court as she is currently undergoing treatment at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University (BSMMU) hospital.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case with Tejgaon Model Police Station on December 9, 2007 for abusing power in signing a deal with Canadian company Niko for exploring and extracting gas when Khaleda Zia was the Prime Minister between 2001 and 2006.
The ACC on May 5, 2008, submitted the charge sheet of the case against 11 persons including the BNP chairperson.
Apart from Khaleda Zia, former Law Minister Barrister Moudud Ahmed, former secretaries Md Shafiur Rahman, Khondker Shahidul Islam, CM Yusuf Hossain and former President of Dhaka Club Selim Bhuiyan are among the accused in the case. However, Shafiur Rahman died on May 5, last year, for which the number of accused came down to 10.
Other three accused are: former secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, former General Manager of Bangladesh Petroleum Explortation and Production Company Limited (BAPEX) Meer Moinul Haque and Niko South Asia Affairs Vice President Kashem Sharif, who are on the run.
Khaleda Zia has been serving her 10 years’ extended prison sentence in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case since February 8, 2018.
