Indictment hearing against Khaleda in Niko graft case April 12

A Dhaka court has scheduled a hearing on charge framing in the Niko graft case against BNP leader Begum Khaleda Zia and ten others for April 12.

The order was issued in a temporary courtroom of the Dhaka Special Judge's Court-9 at Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj by Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman.

The hearing on the charge framing against Khaleda Zia was scheduled for Tuesday. However she was unable to attend due to illness. Her attorney then asked the court to postpone the hearing.

On December 9, 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case with Tejgaon police station against five people, including Begum Khaleda Zia, for misusing power in negotiating a deal with Canadian company Niko for finding and extracting gas.

The ACC filed charges against 11 people, including Khaleda Zia, on May 5, 2008. By signing the arrangement, the ACC said they caused a loss to the state exchequer of more than Taka 13 thousand crore.

Barrister 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 are the other defendants in the case.

Following her conviction in the Zia Orphanage Trust graft case on February 8, 2018, Khaleda is presently behind bars as a result of an executive order. She was given a five-year sentence, which was later increased to ten years by the High Court.