SC clears way for Khaleda's Niko graft trial
The Supreme Court yesterday cleared the way for the lower court concerned to resume the trial proceedings against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in Niko corruption case.
A three-member bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha scrapped a High Court order that stayed the trial proceedings of the case filed by the Anti-Corruption Commission in 2007.
The apex court passed the order on the ground that the HC bench, which had issued a rule staying the trial proceedings of the case against Khaleda, has no jurisdiction to hear the petitions related to the ACC cases, anti-graft body's lawyer Khurshid Alam Khan told The Daily Star.
He said following the SC order, there was no legal bar to the trial court to resume the trial proceedings of the Niko corruption case against Khaleda.
In response to a petition filed by the BNP chief, the HC bench of Justice Sheikh Abdul Awal and Justice Md Khashruzzaman on March 7 this year issued a rule staying the trial proceedings of the case.
In December 2007, the ACC lodged the case accusing Khaleda and several others of abusing power to award a gas exploration and extraction deal to Canadian company Niko when she was the prime minister between 2001 and 2006.
Former law minister Moudud Ahmed, former state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain, former acting energy secretary Khandaker Shahidul Islam, and Vice-President (South Asia) of Niko Resources Bangladesh Ltd Kashem Sharif were also sued.
On March 12 this year, the apex court paved the way for a lower court to continue trial of the Zia Charitable Trust corruption case against the BNP chairperson.
On March 8, the HC transferred another case against Khaleda -- the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case -- to Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court, and asked it to complete trial proceedings within 60 days after receiving the order.
The BNP chief is now facing 25 criminal cases, including five for corruption. Four of the corruption cases were filed during the tenure of the last caretaker government.
Trial proceedings in 15 of the 25 cases are now going on at lower courts. The remaining cases are still under investigation, according to court sources.