Niko graft case against Khaleda: ACC asked to produce all prosecution witnesses on Sept 12

A Dhaka court today asked the Anti-Corruption Commission to produce all the prosecution witnesses, including the investigation officer, before it on September 12 in Niko corruption case filed against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and eight others.
Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of Dhaka Special Judge Court-9 passed the order after Md Zakir Hossain Bhuiyan, one of Khaleda’s lawyers, appealed to the court to conclude recording of the witnesses’ statements.
Lawyer Zakir told the court that the prosecution has failed to produce any of its witnesses for the last three consecutive dates. So, recording statements of the witnesses should be concluded, he added.
However, the ACC’s Public Prosecutor Mahmud Hossain Jahangir was present at the court during today’s hearing.
Upon hearing from both the sides, the judge set the date and asked the prosecutor to produce all the witnesses, including the IO, of the case on the next scheduled date.
Earlier, the court recorded statements of seven witnesses including the complainant and two foreigners in the case.
On March 19 last year, the same court officially framed charges against Khaleda and eight other accused.
Khaleda, who stands an accused of over 30 other cases, was earlier acquitted of Zia Orphanage and Zia Charitable trust graft cases on presidential mercy. She was also acquitted of five defamation cases filed during the immediate past Awami League rule.
The other accused in the case are Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, Khandaker Shahidul Islam, CM Eusuf Hossain, Mir Moinul Haque, Gias Uddin Al Mamun, Selim Bhuiyan, and Kashem Sharif.
The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case with Tejgaon Police Station on December 9, 2007, for abusing power in signing a deal with the Canadian company Niko for exploring and extracting gas.