Niko graft case against Khaleda adjourned for Moudud’s death

Special Correspondent
The Ninth Special Judge Court of Dhaka yesterday fixed March 25 for submission of a report about the death of BNP Standing Committee member Barrister Moudud Ahmed in the Niko graft case against BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and others.Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of the special judge court passed the order on Thursday asking Gulshan Police Station of the city to submit the report on March 25.
Advocate Masud Ahmed Talukder represented Begum Khaleda Zia in the case under the Section 205 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Besides, he submitted a death certificate of Barrister Moudud to the court. Then the court asked Khaleda Zia’s council to start charge hearing on behalf of Khaleda Zia when Advocate Masud told the court that they are not in mood to carry on with the hearing because of the death of Barrister Moudud in Singapore on Tuesday evening. They sought time adjourning the hearing on human ground considering the situation.
Later, the court passed the order at the newly built courtroom in front of Keraniganj Central Jail on Thursday.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case against five including Begum Khaleda Zia with Tejgaon Model Police Station on December 9 in 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 the charge-sheet against 11 including Khaleda Zia. They accused them of incurring a loss of more than Taka 13 thousand crore of the state exchequer by the deal with Niko.
The other accused in the case are the 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 MP MAH Selim and Niko’s Vice-President for South Asia Kashem Sharif.
The ACC accused them of incurring a loss of more than Taka 13 thousand crore of national exchequer by that deal.
Khaleda is now in her house at Gulshan following an executive order of the government while three other BNP leaders are on bail. And three others have been absconding since the case was filed against them.