The Dhaka Special Judge Court-4 court on Wednesday acquitted Bangladesh Nationalist Party chairperson and former prime minister Khaleda Zia and seven others in the Niko corruption case.
Judge Md Rabiul Alam of the court delivered the verdict saying that the prosecution failed to prove the charges against them.
Besides Khaleda, the acquitted individuals are the then principal secretary to the prime minister Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources鈥� former acting secretary Khandaker Shahidul Islam, former senior assistant secretary CM Yusuf Hossain, Bapex鈥檚 former general manager Mir Mainul Haque, businessman Gias Uddin Al Mamun, International Travel Corporation chairman Selim Bhuiyan and Niko鈥檚 vice-president of South Asia affairs Kashem Sharif.
BNP standing committee member Moudud Ahmed, former state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain, and Bapex鈥檚 former secretary Md Shafiur Rahman were discharged from the case due to their death.
The court, in its verdict, said that the case was politically motivated and aimed at harassing Khaleda.
The judge also pointed out that a similar corruption case against the then opposition leader Sheikh Hasina was dismissed in 2010 but the case against Khaleda continued.
The Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case on December 9, 2007 during the military-backed caretaker government.
The case alleged that the deal between the BNP government and Canadian company Niko Resources caused a loss of Tk 137.77 crore to the national exchequer. On May 5, 2018, a charge sheet was submitted against Khaleda and 11 other individuals.
Charges were framed in the case on March 19, 2023 by Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of Dhaka鈥檚 9th (Temporary) Special Judge鈥檚 Court in Keraniganj.
During the trial, 39 witnesses out of 68 testified in the court.
The High Court had initially stayed proceedings against Khaleda in July 2008, but the stay was lifted in June 2015.
Meanwhile, the ACC did not appeal the High Court鈥檚 decision to quash the case against Sheikh Hasina, despite allegations of a Tk 13,630.50 crore loss to the state in a separate Niko contract.
Khaleda, 76, who faced at least 37 cases during the Awami League regime, has now been cleared in over 20 of them.
In March 2020, she was released from prison for six months on two conditions under an executive order by the then Awami League government.
Since then, her release has been repeatedly extended. On January 7, 2024, she left for London for advanced medical treatment, marking a major turn in her legal and political journey.