Staff Reporter :
The Supreme Court (SC) on Thursday rejected a petition filed by BNP Chirperson Khaleda Zia challenging the trial proceedings of Niko corruption case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) against her.
A four-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the order dismissing her petition for leave to appeal against a High Court (HC) order that removed a stay order of trial proceedings of the case.
ACC lawyer Khurshed Alam Khan said now there was no legal bar to proceed with the trial of the case.
The HC on June 18 last year rejected a writ petition filed by Khaleda challenging the trial proceedings of Niko corruption case against her.
On December 7 last year, the BNP Chairperson filed the leave to appeal petition with the SC against the HC verdict.
In the petition she also prayed to the apex court to stay the trial proceedings of the case against her.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the Niko graft case on December 9, 2007 against Khaleda and four others on charge of incurring loss of Tk 13777 crore to the State Exchequer for awardind a gas exploration and extraction deal to Canadian company Niko when she was PM between 2001 and 2006.
Former Law Minister Moudud Ahmed, former State Minister for Energy A K M Mosharraf Hossain, former Acting Energy Secretary Khandaker Shahidul Islam and Kashem Sharif, Vice-President (South Asia) of Niko Resources Bangladesh Ltd, were also sued in the case.
