Indictment hearing in Khaleda’s Niko graft case March 1

A court on Sunday fixed March 1 to hold hearing on charge framing in Niko graft case against BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia.

Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman passed the order at a temporary courtroom of the Dhaka Special Judge’s Court-9 at Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj, reports BSS.

Appearing on behalf of Khaleda Zia, lawyer AJ Mohammad Ali sought time for submitting some necessary documents. As the hearing did not end today, the court re-fixed the date.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case against five including Begum Khaleda Zia with 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 in 2008 submitted the charge-sheet against 11 people including Khaleda Zia.

The ACC accused them of incurring a loss of more than Taka 13 thousand crore of state exchequer by that deal.