Next hearing in Niko graft case Jan 03

A Dhaka court has fixed January 03 for hearing a petition over accepting an investigation report by the FBI and Canadian police in the Niko corruption case, report agencies.

Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of Dhaka Special Judge Court-9 asked on Sunday the accused - BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and 10 others - to appear before it on the day of the hearing.

Khaleda's counsel -- Abdur Rezzak Khan and Masud Ahmed Talukdar -- filed a petition to defer the hearing and told the court that they would file a petition of objection.

The court fixed the new date for filing the objection petition and conducting a hearing.

On November 22, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam submitted to the court a copy of an investigation report by the FBI and Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) which claimed that bribery charges against Khaleda and 10 others had been proven.

Alam also sought the court's permission to record the testimonies of some FBI and RCMP officials.

On December 09, 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case accusing Khaleda and four others of causing the state a loss of Tk 137.77 billion by signing an oil-gas exploration deal with Canadian company Niko when the BNP was in office.

Police submitted a charge sheet against the accused on May 05 the next year.

The other accused in the case are BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed, former state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain, former principal secretary Kamal Uddin Siddique, Khandaker Shahidul Islam, CM Yusuf Hossain, former Bapex general manager Mir Mainul Haq, its former secretary Shafiur Rahman, Giasuddin Al Mamun, former MP MAH Selim and former vice-president of South-Asia affairs Niko Kashem Sharif.