Dhaka – The High Division of the Supreme Court on Thursday declared two deals of Niko signed with Bapex and Petrobangla illegal. Besides, the Special Judge Court-9 of Dhaka fixed February 17 for hearing on framing charge against Begum Khaleda Zia and 10 others in the Niko graft case.Niko signed the deals, joint venture agreement and gas purchase and sales agreement (GPSA) with Bapex and Petrobangla in 2003 and 2006 respectively.
The High Court bench of Justice Naima Haider and Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman delivered the verdict hearing a writ petition, said Moin Ghani, a lawyer for Bapex and Petrobangla.
Joint venture agreement was signed on October 16, 2003, o develop two gas fields while GPSA was signed in December 2006 to sell the gas extracted from Feni gas field.
Samsul Alam, Energy Advisor of Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB), filed the writ petition with the High Court, last year, seeking an order to declare illegal the deals as they were procured through corruption.
“We also find the assets of Niko Resources in Bangladesh have been obtained through a corrupt scheme and are to be treated as proceeds of crime” lawyer Moin Ghani added quoting the verdict.
Meanwhile, Judge Md Aminul Islam of the Special Judge court also granted non-appearance plea for Khaleda Zia on Thursday morning.
The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case in December 2007 over charges that Khaleda Zia and several others abused power to award a gas exploration and extraction deal to Canadian company Niko when she was the Prime Minister between 2001 and 2006. – Special Correspondent
