March 9 to file charges against Khaleda Zia

The court has set March 9 as the date for hearing the charge sheet against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia in the NAICO corruption case. On Wednesday (March 1), Judge Sheikh Hafizur Rahman of Dhaka No. 9 (Temporary) Special Judge's Court located in Keraniganj Central Jail has fixed the date.

On this day, lawyer AJ Muhammad Ali appeared on behalf of Khaleda Zia. After that Khaleda Zia's lawyer applied for time to postpone the hearing due to not getting some necessary documents. The court allowed the time application and fixed March 9 for the next hearing. Earlier, the ACC concluded the hearing to frame the charges against the accused.
  ACC Assistant Director Muhammad Mahbubul Alam filed the case at the capital's Tejgaon police station as the plaintiff. On May 5, 2008, the ACC filed a charge sheet against 11 people including Khaleda Zia.

________________________________________________________

Also Read: 29 killed in Greece train collision
________________________________________________________

The rest are BNP Standing Committee member Maudud Ahmad, former State Minister for Energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain, then Prime Minister's Principal Secretary Kamal Uddin Siddiqui, former Acting Secretary of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources Khandaker Shahidul Islam, former Senior Assistant Secretary CM Yusuf Hossain, former BAPEX General manager Mir Moinul Haque, former secretary of Bapex. Shafiur Rahman, businessman Ghiyas Uddin Al Mamun, International Travel Corporation Chairman Salim Bhuiyan and NICO South Asia Vice President Kashem Sharif. Among them, AKM Mosharraf Hossain and Barrister Maudud Ahmed died.

Khaleda Zia's lawyer Zia Uddin Zia confirmed the matter.

• 
  According to the ACC's charge sheet, between 2001 and 2006, while in government, Khaleda Zia and several others abused their power and granted the Canadian company illegal gas exploration and extraction facilities. In the charge sheet, the defendants have been accused of causing losses to the state of Rs 13,777 crore.
  Among the accused, Ghiyasuddin Al Mamun is currently in jail. Kashem Sharif, former president of Nico Resources (Bangladesh) Limited, is absconding. The rest are on bail.

On December 9, 2007, the then Assistant Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Muhammad Mahbubul Alam filed a case against five people including Khaleda Zia at Tejgaon Police Station. The case was filed on charges of corruption and financial damage to the state through an opaque contract with the Canadian company Niko.