The special judge court-4 of Dhaka on Thursday fixed February 19 to deliver the judgement of Niko graft case against former prime minister Khaleda Zia and seven others.
Judge of the court Rabiul Alam fixed the date to deliver the judgement after concluding the examination and cross examination in the case.
Lawyers of Khaleda Zia have expressed their hope that she would be acquitted from the charge in the verdict.
Advocates Zia Uddin Zia and Syed Joynul Abedin Mejba told BSS that the case was initiated against Khaleda Zia due to political vengeance. The state prosecution could not prove any allegations against her. So, it was clear that the allegation was completely fake and baseless.
鈥榃e hope that Begum Khaleda Zia will be acquitted from the charge,鈥� they added.
Md Mahbubul Alam, the-then assistant director of the Anti-Corruption Commission on December 9 in 2007, filed the case with Tejgaon police station against Khaleda Zia for abusing power in signing a deal with Canadian company Niko for exploring and extracting gas.
On May 5, 2018, the ACC submitted a charge-sheet against 11 people, including Khaleda Zia, to the court accusing them of causing a loss of Tk 13,777 crore to the state exchequer by signing the deal.
Sheikh Hafizur Rahman, judge of the special court-9 temporarily set up at Dhaka central jail in Keraniganj on March 19 in 2023, framed charges against the accused.
The seven other accused of the case are Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, former principal secretary to Khaleda Zia, Khandkar Shahidul Islam, former acting secretary to the energy and mineral resources ministry, CM Yusuf Hossain, former senior assistant secretary, Mir Moinul Haque, former general manager of Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited, businessman Gias Uddin Al Mamun, Selim Bhuiyan, chairman of International Travel Corporation and Kashem Sharif, South Asia affairs vice-president of the Niko.
Names of BNP former standing committee member Moudud Ahmed, former state minister for energy and mineral resources AKM Mosharaf Hossain and former secretary of BAPEX Md Shafiur Rahman were dropped from the charge as they have already died.
The court, however, recorded the depositions of 39 prosecution witnesses out of 68 during the trial.
