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Niko Case

Charges pressed against Hasina for ‘graft’

Court Correspondent
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday pressed charges against detained former premier Sheikh Hasina, detained former state minister for energy Prof Rafiqul Islam and seven others for awarding gas exploration and extraction deal to Canadian company Niko Resources through corruption and abuse of power.
The case was not brought under die Emergency Power Rules (EPR), so there is no time limit to dispose of the case, sources said. The authorities concerned, however, had decided to bring the case under the EPR.
Hasina was earlier charged in
two cases-a Tk 3 crore extortion case filed by businessman Azam J Chowdhury and a barge-mounted power plant graft case filed by the ACC.
The other chargesheeted accused are former principal secretary to Prime Minister's Office Dr SA Samad, former energy secretaries Dr Towfiq-e-Elahi Chowdhury and M Akmal Hossain, former Petrobangla chairman Mosharraf Hossain, and Vice-President (South Asia) of Niko Resources Bangladesh Ltd Kashem Sharif, former secretary of External Resources Division Dr AKM Moshiur Rahman and former director of Petrobangla (mines and mineral and operation) Sayed Anwarul Haque. The last two were included in the charge sheet in addition to others named in the case's first information report (FIR).
ACC Deputy Director Sabbir Hasan, who is also the investigating officer of the case, submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's Court, Dhaka showing 51 persons as prosecution witnesses.
Of the accused, Hasina, Rafiqul and Towfiq are now in jail custody while the rest have been shown absconding in the charge sheet.
The investigating officer prayed for issuance of warrants of arrest against the fugitives and order for attaching their properties.
The charge sheet wassubrnit-ted under section 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant) and 109 (abetment) of the Penal Code and section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1947.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Golam Rabbani yesterday ordered for sending the case file to the Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court, Dhaka for taking it into cognisance for trial.
Earlier on April 30, the ACC approved the charge sheet in the case against Hasina and eight others after their involvement in corruption was primarily proved.
On December 9 last year, the ACC filed the case with Tejgaon
Police Station against Hasina and six others. The names of Moshiur and Anwarul were later included in the charge sheet as their involvement with graft was proved.
According to the charge sheet, the accused In collaboration with each other awarded gas extrac tion work at Chhatak, Kamta and Feni gas fields to Niko by cheating to gain personal financial benefit
The charge sheet also men lions that the work was given to Niko in an illegal way without floating tenders, allowing it to extract 1,794 billion cubic feet (bef) gas from a reservation of 2,834 bef, which caused the country a loss of Tk 13,630.50 crore considering the then price of each million-cubic-feet gas atTk 75.9783.
The ACC also alleges that the accused cheated and abused power by showing the east part of Chhatak gas field -explored by Bangladesh but yet to be extracted--as marginal and abandoned.
Hasina was arrested from her Dhanmondi residence on July 16 last year.
Earlier, she had been shown arrested on June 13 in the case filed by Azam J Chowdhury and in two extortion cases filed by Nur Ali and another businessman with Tejgaon police in March.