A Dhaka court has deferred till May 24 the hearing on charge framing against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and ten others in the much-talked Niko graft case as the defence submits that they will complete submissions on the next hearing day.
They are accused of abusing power to award a gas exploration and extraction deal to Canadian company “Niko” when Khaleda was the prime minister between 2001 and 2006.
Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of the Dhaka’s Ninth Special Judge’s Court passed the order on Tuesday after accepting an adjournment petition filed by Khaleda’s counsel Masud Ahmed Talukder.
In the petition, Masud Ahmed told the court that they would complete placing arguments on the next date of the hearing.
However, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) counsel opposed the petition as the defence had appealed for time 47 times under deterrent grounds.
The former premier has been out of jail under an executive order since March 2020. She contracted Covid-19 twice and had to be hospitalized several times since then.
Khaleda was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment in Zia Orphanage Trust case and seven years in Zia Charitable Trust case.
The case was filed with Tejgaon police station on December 9, 2007 and the ACC pressed charges on May 5 the following year.
Two months later, the High Court stayed the proceedings of the case following a petition filed by the BNP chairperson.
Following an ACC move, the High Court cleared the way for the trial on June 18, 2016.
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The other accused in the case are AKM Mosharraf Hossain, former state minister for energy, Kamal Uddin Siddique, former principal secretary to the prime minister, Khandaker Shahidul Islam, former acting energy secretary, CM Yousuf Hossain, former senior assistant secretary of Energy and Mineral Resources Department, Meer Moynul Haque, former senior general manager of Bapex, Shafiur Rahman, former secretary of Bapex, Giasuddin Al Mamun, managing director of One Group, Selim Bhuiyan, chairman and managing director of International Travel Corporation, and Kashem Sharif, vice president (South Asia) of Niko Resources Bangladesh Ltd.
