BANGLADESH NEWS
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday pressed charges against former state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain for taking bribe from Niko Resources Ltd, a Canadian energy producer.
In a bribery case, the ACC also charged Niko's former vice-president Kashem Sharif with helping Mosharraf to cause loss to the government exchequer.
Investigation officer (IO) of the case and ACC Assistant Director Shahidur Rahman submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's court of Dhaka, naming 15 prosecution witnesses and showing Kashem as fugitive.
The IO appealed to the court to issue an arrest warrant against Kashem.
The anti-graft watchdog had filed the case on February 12 with Shahbagh Police Station accusing the two.
The High Court granted bail to Mosharraf till the submission of the police report.
According to the case statement, Mosharraf received a Land Cruiser jeep worth about Tk 95.58 lakh as a gift, and 5,000 Canadian dollars as bribe from Niko in 2005 to ink a contract between the government and Niko with the provision of selling gas to government at an inflated price.
Last year the Niko authorities confessed to a Canadian court that they were compelled to give the gift and bribe to sign the deal.
A joint venture of Niko and Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex) redeveloped the Feni Gas Field in 2004. The company has been operating in Bangladesh since 2003.
The ACC during the tenure of the last caretaker government had filed another graft case against former premier Khaleda Zia, Mosharraf and nine others on charges of corruption and abuse of power in awarding a gas exploration deal to Niko.
The case statement said the contract caused a loss of Tk 13,777 crore to the state exchequer during the tenure (2001-2006) of the BNP-led four-party alliance government.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) yesterday pressed charges against former state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain for taking bribe from Niko Resources Ltd, a Canadian energy producer.
In a bribery case, the ACC also charged Niko's former vice-president Kashem Sharif with helping Mosharraf to cause loss to the government exchequer.
Investigation officer (IO) of the case and ACC Assistant Director Shahidur Rahman submitted the charge sheet to the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate's court of Dhaka, naming 15 prosecution witnesses and showing Kashem as fugitive.
The IO appealed to the court to issue an arrest warrant against Kashem.
The anti-graft watchdog had filed the case on February 12 with Shahbagh Police Station accusing the two.
The High Court granted bail to Mosharraf till the submission of the police report.
According to the case statement, Mosharraf received a Land Cruiser jeep worth about Tk 95.58 lakh as a gift, and 5,000 Canadian dollars as bribe from Niko in 2005 to ink a contract between the government and Niko with the provision of selling gas to government at an inflated price.
Last year the Niko authorities confessed to a Canadian court that they were compelled to give the gift and bribe to sign the deal.
A joint venture of Niko and Bangladesh Petroleum Exploration and Production Company Limited (Bapex) redeveloped the Feni Gas Field in 2004. The company has been operating in Bangladesh since 2003.
The ACC during the tenure of the last caretaker government had filed another graft case against former premier Khaleda Zia, Mosharraf and nine others on charges of corruption and abuse of power in awarding a gas exploration deal to Niko.
The case statement said the contract caused a loss of Tk 13,777 crore to the state exchequer during the tenure (2001-2006) of the BNP-led four-party alliance government.
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