A Dhaka court has fixed February 17 in the Niko corruption case filed against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia during the army-backed caretaker government in 2007.
Dhaka’s Ninth Special Judge’s Court of Md Aminul Islam fixed the date on Monday morning, accepting the time petition filed by Khaleda's lawyer.
Earlier, the same court granted bail to the BNP chief after she sought bail on surrender on November 30.
On June 18, the High Court cleared the way for trial proceedings to resume against Khaleda in the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) in 2007. The bench of Justice Md Nuruzzaman and Justice Zafar Ahmed also ordered the BNP chief to surrender before the trial court within two months after its verdict reaches the trial court.
The order was given rejecting Khaleda’s petition that had challenged the legality of the opening and proceedings of the case.
The court also directed the trial court to consider Khaleda’s bail petition, on condition that she did not misuse the bail.
ACC filed the case in December 2007 alleging that then prime minister Khaleda and several others abused power to award a gas exploration and extraction deal to Canadian company Niko between 2001 and 2006.
