BNP acting chairman Tarique Rahman's friend Giausuddin Al Mamun has filed a petition seeking a stay on charge framing order in the Niko graft case.
Khurshid Alam Khan, lawyer of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), confirmed the matter on Wednesday.
On March 19, Dhaka Special Judge's Court-9 framed the charges against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia and three other accused--former acting secretary for energy ministry Khondaker Shahidul Islam, its former senior assistant secretary CM Yusuf Hussain, and Giausuddin Al Mamun-- in the case.
On December 9, 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission filed the case accusing them of causing a loss of Tk 137.77 billion to the state by signing an oil and gas exploration deal with Canadian company Niko on behalf of the state that was deemed to not place Bangladesh's national interest above all other considerations, and swayed by graft.
The anti-graft body pressed charges in court against 11 people, including Khaleda, in May 2008.
The other accused in the case are former principal secretary Kamal Uddin Siddique, Khandaker Shahidul Islam, CM Yusuf Hossain, former Bapex general manager Mir Mainul Haq, Giasuddin Al Mamun, former parliamentarian MAH Selim and former vice-president of South-Asia affairs Niko Kashem Sharif.
Among the accused, BNP Standing Committee Member Barrister Moudud Ahmed, former state minister AKM Mosharraf Hossain and former secretary of Bapex Shafiur Rahman died during the trial proceedings.
Khaleda was sent to the Old Dhaka Central Jail as a lower court sentenced her to five years' imprisonment in the Zia Orphanage Trust corruption case on February 8, 2018. Later, she was found guilty and convicted in another corruption case the same year.
Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the government temporarily freed Khaleda Zia from jail through an executive order by suspending her sentence on March 25, 2020, with conditions that she would stay at her Gulshan house and would not leave the country.
Since then, her release term has been extended every six months following the family's plea.
The 77-year-old BNP chief has been staying at her Gulshan residence since her release in 2020. She also received treatment at Evercare Hospital in the capital six times since she was infected with Covid-19 in April 2021.
BDST: 1323 HRS, MAY 10, 2023
SMS
