2 Canadian cops summoned to testify in NIKO graft case

A Dhaka court has summoned Kevin Duggan and Liyod Skuip of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to testify against BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and four others in the NIKO graft case.

Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of Dhaka (Temporary) Special Judge Court-9 on Thursday issued the summons and fixed October 30 for the next testimony, after the defendants' lawyers cross-examined the plaintiff on behalf of Khaleda Zia and other accused.

Earlier on September 17, the court allowed three foreigners, including a former FBI agent, to testify in Niko graft case against BNP chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and four others.

Former supervisory special agent Debra LaPrevotte Griffith of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the USA is the other person besides the Canadian Policemen, to testify before the court in the case.

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 submitted the charge sheet against 11 people, including Khaleda Zia on May 5, 2008.

The ACC accused them of incurring a loss of more than Tk 13,000 crore of state exchequer by signing that deal.

/KN/