BNP chief asked to surrender
in court
HC rejects Khaleda plea to scrap Niko case
The High Court yesterday directed BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia to surrender to the trial court in two months after getting the full copy of its verdict in connection with the Niko graft case filed during the caretaker regime in 2007.
At the same time, the HC asked the lower court to consider granting bail to Khaleda following her surrender.
A bench comprising Justice Md Nuruzzaman and Justice Zafar Ahmed rejected a writ petition filed by the BNP chief challenging the legality of the case. The bench also vacated its earlier stay order on the case proceedings.
The HC order paved the way for starting trial proceedings in the Niko case, which has been pending with a special judges court in Dhaka for hearing on framing of charges since July 2008.
The court verdict came at a time when Khaleda has been facing simultaneous trials in graft cases relating to embezzlement of funds by Ziaur Rahman Charitable Trust and Ziaur Rahman Orphanage Trust.
In its order, the HC bench said the FIR and charge sheet of the Niko case did disclose prima facie evidence that Khaleda had abetted the other accused in committing corruption by abusing her office during her second tenure as the prime minister. It also said that the trial court would settle the case by examining evidence.
Defence counsel barrister Mahbub Uddin Khokon said they would file an appeal with the Appellate Division against the HC order after getting the certified copy of the verdict. He alleged that although the HC had acquitted Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina from the same charge in the Niko graft case earlier, but it had not done so in Khaledas case. He also alleged that the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) had not filed an appeal with the apex court after the HC acquitted Hasina, which reflected the ACCs bias.
On the other hand, ACC lawyer advocate Khurshid Alam Khan told reporters that there were many specific allegations against Khaleda in the Niko graft case. The allegations brought against Khaleda and the charges against Hasina were not the same. Considering the facts and felony, the HC cancelled its earlier stay order on the case, he added.
He also said the trial court would grant her bail after her surrender, provided that she did not misbehave with the court while doing so.
The lawyer said the prosecution team had sought ACCs opinion on whether they should appeal to the Supreme Court against the HC order acquitting Hasina in the Niko graft case. But the ACC did not give any decision in this regard. Therefore, no appeal was filed with the apex court against the HC order, he added.
On December 9, 2007, the commission had filed two cases against Hasina and Khaleda for alleged corruption in signing contracts with Canadian oil company Niko Resources Ltd by showing a productive gas-field as marginal, causing the state to incur a loss of Tk. 23,630.5 crore. Three former ministers, five retired bureaucrats and a Niko official were named as accused.
On March 11, 2010, the HC had quashed the charges against Hasina, prosecuted along with six others on charge of causing a loss of Tk. 13,630.50 crore.
Khaleda was prosecuted along with four others on charge of causing a loss of Tk. 10,000 crore to the state.0
After a preliminary hearing of a writ petition on July 15, 2008, another HC Court bench had stayed the proceedings in the case against Khaleda, asking the ACC to explain the legality of the proceedings. Khaleda was then also granted bail.
The HC bench of Justices Nuruzzaman and Ahmed started hearing the writ petition on April 19 and completed it on May 11, but kept its decision pending.
Also yesterday, the Dhaka Special Judges Court-3 set July 23 for hearing the Zia Charitable Trust and Zia Orphanage Trust graft cases filed against Khaleda. The BNP chief arrived at the makeshift court in the capitals Bakhshibazar area around 10:35 am as per schedule.
During yesterdays proceedings, Khaledas counsels cross-examined ACCs deputy director Harun-or-Rashid who completed his testimony as the plaintiff in the Zia Charitable Trust graft case on May 25.
Judge Abu Ahmed Jamadar fixed the next date after hearing both the sides.
After coming out from the court, Khandker Mahbub Hossain, counsel for Khaleda, told reporters that the case was filed out of political vendetta. If the judicial system in the country had been independent, the case would be nipped in the bud, he added.
The court had framed charges in the two cases against her on March 19, 2014. But there were allegations that the court had not followed proper procedures.
In the Zia Orphanage Trust case, Khaleda, her eldest son Tarique Rahman, Ziaur Rahmans nephew Mominur Rahman, Khaledas former principal secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, former BNP lawmaker Qauzi Salimul Haque Kamal and businessman Sharfuddin Ahmed were charged with misappropriation of about Tk. 2.11 crore after withdrawal of the money from the trust fund between November 13, 1993 and March 28, 2007.
In the other case, Khaleda, her former political secretary Harris Chowdhury, his assistant private secretary Ziaul Islam Munna, and former Dhaka mayor Sadeque Hossains assistant personal secretary Monirul Islam Khan were charged with collecting about Tk. 3.15 crore illegally in the name of Zia Charitable Trust and subsequently withdrawing the money from the fund in an attempt to misappropriate it.
