Photo: Collected
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and seven others have been acquitted in the 2007 Niko graft case which was filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC). Citing a lack of evidence, Judge Md Rabiul Alam of Dhaka's Special Judge's Court-4 delivered the verdict today (19 February). He stated that the prosecution failed to substantiate the charges against the accused, leading to all of their acquittal. Khaleda Zia is currently in London undergoing medical treatment.
She was represented in court by her lawyer Mohammad Ziauddin Zia. The other acquitted individuals include former acting secretary of the energy ministry Khondaker Shahidul Islam, businessman Giausuddin Al Mamun, International Travel Corporation chairman Selim Bhuiyan, former senior assistant secretary CM Yusuf Hussain, ex-principal secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, former Bapex general manager Mir Moynul Haque, and former Niko South Asia regional president Kashem Sharif.
Meanwhile, BNP Standing Committee member Barrister Moudud Ahmed, former state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain, and former Bapex secretary Md Shafiur Rahman were exempted from the case following their deaths.
On 9 December 2007, the then-assistant director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Muhammad Mahbubul Alam, filed a case with Tejgaon Police Station against Khaleda Zia and four others. The case was filed over allegations of corruption and financial losses to the state through an opaque agreement with the Canadian company Niko.
Later, on 5 May 2018, the ACC submitted a charge sheet against Khaleda Zia and 10 others, accusing them of causing financial losses amounting to approximately Tk13,777 crore to the state. On 19 March 2023, Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of Dhaka's Special Judge's Court-9, temporarily set up at Dhaka Central Jail in Keraniganj, framed charges against the accused.
With today's ruling, the BNP chief has been cleared of all cases filed against her, including the Zia Orphanage Trust and Zia Charitable Trust corruption cases initiated during the caretaker government in 2007 and under the Awami League government.
Messenger/JRTarek
