The High Court on Wednesday rejected a plea filed by BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia challenging an indictment order against her, pleading to quash the Niko graft case.
As a result, there is no bar to continue the trial of the case against Khaleda Zia in the lower court, said lawyers.
A High Court bench of Justice Mustafa Zaman Islam and Justice Md Aminul Islam passed the order after holding a hearing in this regard.
Barrister Kaiser Kamal took part in the hearing on behalf of the BNP chief, while Advocate Khurshid Alam Khan argued for the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC).
Additional Attorney General Mehedi Hasan Chowdhury represented the state.
Earlier, the court on Monday fixed the date for the hearing on Wednesday.
Legal counsels for Khaleda Zia filed the appeal in the High Court on May 17, challenging the indictment order.
On March 19, the court framed charges against the accused.
Khaleda, who is now on bail, pleaded not guilty through her lawyer Masud Ahmed Talukder on that day and demanded justice.
The other accused in the case are Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, Khandaker Shahidul Islam, CM Eusuf Hossain, Mir Moinul Haque, Gias Uddin Al Mamun, Selim Bhuiyan and Kashem Sharif.
The anti-graft body filed the case against five including Begum Khaleda Zia at Tejgaon police station on December 9, 2007, for abusing power in signing a deal with Canadian company Niko for exploring and extracting gas.
The ACC on May 5, 2008 pressed charges against 11 people including Khaleda Zia.
The ACC accused them of causing a loss of more than Tk13,00 crore to the state exchequer by signing that deal.
