Niko graft case: Court defers indictment hearing of Khaleda, Moudud again

The hearing of indictment in the Niko graft case of BNP chief Khaleda Zia and Moudud Ahmed have been deferred for an eighth time.

The court of Dhaka's Ninth Special Judge Md Aminul Islam fixed Oct 2 for the hearings.

BNP leader Moudud's counsel Khairul Kabir said the rescheduling was announced on Sunday as they sought more time citing the defendants' appeal against a High Court verdict, which scrapped their plea to drop the charges.

The Anti Corruption Commission filed the case on Dec 9, 2007, during the military-backed caretaker regime.

Charges were pressed against 11 people, including the former PM, on May 5, 2008, for allegedly causing a loss of Tk 137 billion to the state exchequer by awarding the gas exploration contract to Canadian company Niko Resources.

The High Court on July 9 that year stayed proceedings of the graft case and issued a ruling after Khaleda filed the petition. The Appellate Division later upheld the stay order.

The case then remained stuck for the last seven years until the ACC revived it last year.

On Jun 18, 2015, the High Court rejected Khaleda’s petition questioning the legality of the case and lifted the freeze on the case proceedings.

It had also ordered the former prime minister to surrender before the court within two months after receiving the court order.

On Nov 30 last year, Khaleda surrendered to the trial court and secured bail in the case.