The Ninth Special Judge Court of Dhaka on Thursday fixed March 25 for hearing on charge framing in Niko graft case against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and others.
Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of the special judge court passed the fresh order following the death of BNP leader Barrister Moudud Ahmed, who was also one of the accused in the case.
He died in a Singapore hospital on March 16 at the age of 81.
Earlier, the court fixed March 18 to hold a hearing on charge framing at the newly built courtroom in front of Keraniganj Central Jail.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case against five people, including Khaleda Zia, with Tejgaon police station on December 9, 2007, on the charge of abusing power in signing a deal with Canadian company Niko for exploring and extracting gas.
The ACC on May 5, 2008 submitted a charge sheet against 11 including Khaleda Zia. The commission accused them of incurring a loss of more than Tk13,000 crore of the state exchequer by the deal with Niko.
The other accused in the case are -- former state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain, then principal secretary to the prime minister Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, former acting secretary at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Khandaker Shahidul Islam, former senior assistant secretary CM Yusuf Hossain, former Bapex general manager Mir Moinul Haque, former Bapex secretary Mohammad Shafiur Rahman, businessman Gias Uddin Al Mamun, former Bagerhat lawmaker MAH Selim, and Niko's former vice president for South Asia Kashem Sharif.
Khaleda is now at her Gulshan residence following an executive order of the government while BNP leaders Moudud Ahmed and three others were on bail.
Three other accused have been absconding since the case was filed against them.
