A court on Tuesday fixed September 12 for recording the deposition of prosecution witnesses in the Niko graft case against BNP Chairperson Begum Khaleda Zia and seven others.
As Begum Zia's lawyer earlier filed an appeal in the High Court challenging the validity of the charge sheet and sought time to adjourn the taking of evidence, Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of the (temporary) Special Judge Court of Dhaka No 9 allowed the time plea and fixed the date afresh.
The anti-graft body filed the case against five, including Begum Khaleda Zia, with Tejgaon police station on 9 December 2007, for abusing power in signing a deal with Canadian company Niko for exploring and extracting gas.
The ACC submitted the charge sheet against 11 people, including Khaleda Zia on 5 May 2008. The ACC accused them of incurring a loss of more than Tk 130 billion (13,000 crores) of state exchequer by signing that deal.
The other accused in the case include barrister Moudud Ahmed, AKM Mosharraf Hossain, Kamal Uddin Siddiqui and Gias Uddin Al Mamun.
