Staff Correspondent

Detained former prime minister Khaleda Zia filed a writ petition with the High Court on Monday, for the second time challenging the legality of the Niko graft case against her and its proceedings in trial court.

Barrister Kaiser Kamal filed the petition on Khaleda's behalf with the High Court bench of justices Khademul Islam Chowdhury and Mashuk Hossain Ahmed. Tuesday has been set for a hearing on the challenge to the case.
 
A plea to quash the case has been contained in the petition, alongside a request to halt the case proceedings in the lower court as a primary step.
 
Khaleda has also asked the High Court to issue a rule nisi asking the government to explain why filing of the Niko graft case and its proceedings should not be declared illegal.
 
The former prime minister accuses the Anticorruption Commission chairman, two commissioners, a deputy commissioner and the Special Judge's Court-9 of Dhaka of misconduct in regard to filing and trying the case.
 
The petition said Khaleda, as prime minister, performed her official duties as per 'rules of business' when she asked BAPEX to take necessary steps regarding three abandoned gas fields according to guidelines and regulations. But the Niko case had been filed purposely to harass her, she claims.
 
Khaleda also mentioned that the ACC does not have the jurisdiction to challenge the 'rules of business', hence the Niko case filed against her has no legal standing.
 
The writ petition further states that Chhattack, Feni and Kamta gas fields had been declared abandoned after the necessary surveys. The government had handed over the abandoned fields to Niko for converting them into money-spinners, it said. The energy ministry processed the deal, opened the files for Khaleda's signatures and she only endorsed the joint decision.
 
The BNP chairperson, now behind bars on charges of corruption, had filed an earlier petition on May 18 to scrap the Niko case against. On May 20, a High Court bench said it was 'too embarrassed' to hear the plea. A second HC bench, on May 27, rejected the petition.
 
The Anticorruption Commission charged Khaleda and 10 others, on May 5, with scamming the state coffers of Tk 13,700 crore by signing the deal with Canadian company Niko Resources Ltd.
 
ACC assistant director Md Mahbubul Alam filed the case with Tejgaon Police Station on Dec 9 last year.

Comments

Add New

Mirza Md. Abul Foyaz(Mamun)  - Purchase Manager |2008-07-08 15:08:51 As a Bangladeshi my expectation is the present care taker government should not haras our two prime minister without any specific reasons. I am sure after exit of care taker government both two prime minister will be freed and bacome prime minister one of them once again. So they should not unveil infront of global community that all people of Bangladesh are corrupted that will cause poor image. Prof. Muzaffar Ahmed chairman of TIB is quite enough to nect our image globally. He is one of the broker of some NGOs. It doesn't matter for him to say anything. Finally, I believe and hope to ensure judgement for the political leader. After one and half year we could realize that the present government can't run the country due to lack of experience. So it is very clear like day light either Khaleda or Hasina is our next prime minister. 0   0

Write comment
Name:
Email:	We don't publish your mail. See privacy policy.
Title:
	Please input the anti-spam code that you can read in the image.