The Anti-Corruption Commission yesterday said it would help the Royal Canadian Mount Police (RCMP) in investigating BNP chief Khaleda Zia’s alleged involvement in Niko graft case.
The decision was made as the RCMP recently sought support from Bangladesh in questioning the former premier’s then energy adviser Mahmudur Rahman and then foreign minister M Morshed Khan.
ACC Commissioner M Shahabuddin Chuppu told the Dhaka Tribune the ACC had decided to assist the Canadian police as a facilitator in the interrogation process.
“The commission has taken the decision to help them in the legal process as our investigation officer suggested to comply with the request from the Canadian police,” he said yesterday.
On January 10, the Department of Justice of Canada served a letter to the attorney general’s office of Bangladesh seeking support. The Canadian investigators want to interrogate the duo to investigate the alleged involvement of Khaleda in the case. ACC received the letter on March 30.
A High Court bench on July 9, 2008 stayed the case proceeding against Khaleda following her petition.
Before extending support to the Canadian authorities, the ACC investigators have suggested that the anti-graft body seek permission from the High Court.
The Canadian police started their investigation in June, 2005.
While travelling to Bangladesh, Canadian senator Mahmoud (Mac) Harb misused his position as a Canadian senator to lobby senior Bangladeshi government officials on behalf of Niko resources, according to the summary letter sent by the Canadian authorities.
The senator travelled to Bangladesh at least four times to lobby local officials about the contract with Niko, a Calgary-based oil and gas company.
The company had reportedly influenced former state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain by bribing him with a luxury sports utility vehicle worth Tk1 crore.
The benefit was given to the state minister allegedly to manage the situation after protests had sparked following explosion in one of Niko’s gas fields at Tengratila on January 8, 2005.
The minister resigned from his position after the allegation of taking the SUV surfaced.
The Canadian authorities also provided Bangladesh with a compact disk that contains a 2009 interview of BNP Senior Vice-Chairman Tarique Rahman’s business partner Giasuddin Al Mamun.
For their alleged involvement to award Niko the contract, the ACC on December 9, 2007 prosecuted both Sheikh Hasina and Khaleda Zia. They were detained during the military-backed emergency regime.
Because of signing of the contract, the state allegedly lost Tk23,650.50 crore. The allegation have it that now Prime Minister Hasina was behind making a loss of Tk13,630.50 crore while Khaleda Tk10,000 crore.
The charge against Hasina was dropped in March 2010 following court order.