The BNP has claimed that its chief Khaleda Zia was exonerated by an international arbitration tribunal in the graft case over the contracts between Bangladesh and Canadian company Niko Resources Ltd.
"No corruption took place in signing deals with Niko. The international arbitration tribunal found no links of Khaleda and others to signing the deals," Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir said on Saturday (Jan 4).
Speaking at a party event in Dhaka, Fakhrul alleged that the government refused to allow the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) to make the ruling public as the tribunal exonerated Khaleda.
According to a media report, the tribunal set up by the ICSID on Feb 25 last year ruled that the gas production contracts between the BNP-led government and Niko were “not procured through corruption.”
Senior BNP leader Mirza Fakhrul said that the government went to the tribunal, in which all judges were foreigners and they found no links of Khaleda and others who stand accused to the Niko graft case started by the Anti Corruption Commission in 2007.
"All such cases [on Niko contracts] are filed falsely," he said before claiming that the government interferes in the judiciary and using it to establish a one-party rule.
The ICSID tribunal comprised of three members: Michael E. Schneider (president of the tribunal) who was appointed by both parties; Professor Campbell McLachlan QC who was appointed by the Bangladesh side, and Professor Jan Paulsson who was appointed by Niko. The decision taken by the arbitration body is final and there is no right of appeal.
At the tribunal, Bapex and Petrobangla were represented by Foley Hoag, Imtiaz U Ahmad Asif, Moin Ghani, the managing director of Bapex, and the secretary of Petrobangla.
Niko was represented by Dentons Europe, Dentons Canada, Rokanuddin Mahmud, and Mustafizur Rahman Khan, according to the media report.
When asked on why it took the BNP almost a year to obtain a copy of the ICSID ruling, BNP chairperson's media wing member Shairul Kabir Khan told Bangla Tribune that completing the formalities of an international tribunal "took time".
In December 2007, the Anti-Corruption Commission started the case against Khaleda and 10 others for abusing office by awarding a gas exploration and extraction deal to Niko during her time in office as prime minister.
They stand accused of causing the state a loss of Tk 137.77 billion in a non-transparent, corrupted contract.
Others accused in the case include former law minister Moudud Ahmed, former state minister for energy AKM Mosharraf Hossain, former acting energy secretary Khandaker Shahidul Islam, and Kashem Sharif, vice-president (South Asia) of Niko Resources Bangladesh Ltd.