Indictment hearing in Khaleda's Niko graft case on 4 Nov

A Dhaka court on Tuesday adjourned the hearing on charge framing in Niko graft case against BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia and others, till 4 November.

Tuesday was fixed for holding the hearing, but acting judge Nazrul Islam of Dhaka 9th Special Judge Court adjourned the matter as the regular judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman was on leave.

Earlier on 14 September, the court had adjourned the hearing till 5 October as the defence started their part of hearing but failed to conclude on that day.

The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed the case against five including Khaleda Zia with Tejgaon police station on 9 December 2007, for abusing power in signing a deal with Canadian company Niko for exploring and extracting gas.

The ACC on 5 May 2008, submitted the charge-sheet against 11 people including Khaleda Zia. The ACC accused them of incurring a loss of more than Tk 130 billion of state exchequer by that deal.

The other accused in the case are- Moudud Ahmed, AKM Mosharraf Hossain, Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, Khandaker Shahidul Islam, CM Eusuf Hossain, Mir Moinul Haque, Md Shafiur Rahman, Gias Uddin Al Mamun, MAH Selim and Kashem Sharif.