For over 30 years, Orion Group Chairman Obaidul Karim has reportedly built a vast business empire through a web of bribery involving every government that came to power.
Starting in 1993, he expanded his ventures by strategically leasing the state-owned, struggling Kohinoor Chemical Company Limited.
Sources reveal that Karim acquired the company without any tenders or competition by exerting influence over key ministers and MPs of that era.
From 1996 to 2000, he reportedly paid financial favours to senior officials and influential figures under the then Awami League government, a practice he continued during the Four-Party Alliance rule between 2001 and 2005.
In this period, Karim is alleged to have provided luxury items, including BMW vehicles, alongside cash bribes to high-ranking ministers and MPs.
Although he attempted to entice senior military officials during the military-backed caretaker government in 2007-08, multiple charges caught up with him.
He faced over 14 cases of embezzlement, illegal wealth acquisition, fraud, and forgery, leading to three convictions with a cumulative sentence of 48 years.
Nonetheless, Karim managed to reassert influence between 2009 and July of this year by offering shares to influential figures within the Awami League-led government, facilitating numerous power plant and contractor deals rife with alleged corruption.
Among the most infamous instances was a bribery scandal during the 2005-2006 BNP-Jamaat government.
Documents from the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) show that Karim paid at least Tk25 crore in bribes to then-State Minister for Power Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku and his wife, Rumana Mahmood, through bank transactions and luxury gifts.
Detailed evidence, such as a Tk50 lakh payment via cheque from Southeast Bank, along with high-value transactions involving luxury properties and a BMW, substantiates these allegations.
During the emergency rule of 2007, Karim's influence reached prominent BNP officials, such as former whip Ashraf Hossain and Khaleda Zia’s political secretary Harris Chowdhury, through gifts like BMW cars.
Legal proceedings ensued but stalled due to political alliances formed by Karim with the incoming Awami League coalition government.
His influence shielded him as he enlisted ministers as "business partners" across multiple Orion subsidiaries.
Among those engaged were ex-State Minister Mirza Azam and influential former MPs like Alaudin Ahmed Chowdhury and Shamim Osman, who were given directorial roles.
However, the current interim administration has moved decisively against Karim and his associates, freezing bank accounts and launching investigations by the Bangladesh Bank, NBR, and other bodies. Despite his attempts to court favour with the present regime’s advisers, success remains elusive.
