Many influential people have laundered money from Bangladesh to establish businesses and houses abroad. Widespread discussions, criticisms, and controversies regarding their dual citizenship are continuing.
Meanwhile, it has been learnt that Orion Group Chairman Obaidul Karim who is an accused in money laundering and loan default cases, holds citizenship in four countries. Apart from Bangladesh, he possesses passports from minimum three other countries -- Commonwealth of Dominica, Republic of Albania, and Republic of Liberia.
Among these, he managed to secure citizenship directly from Dominica and Albania, and obtained a Liberian passport as an investment consultant. Last Tuesday, the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court ordered him to surrender all his passports to the lower court. It is learned that Obaidul Karim, who was sentenced to at least 48 years in prison in 2007 and 2008 on various corruption charges including embezzlement, fraud, and forgery, had attempted to obtain citizenship in several countries at different times. So far, he has successfully managed to secure passports from the Commonwealth of Dominica, Albania, and Liberia. Among these, his Dominican passport number is RA054664, Albanian passport number is BC6388756, and Liberian passport number is 003057.
Dominica passport holders can travel to more than 140 countries with on-arrival visas, instead of taking prior visas. Among these, 90 countries can be entered without a visa. Of these, the prominent European countries are— France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Netherlands, Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Greece, Poland, and Austria. America and the Caribbean — Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Peru, Uruguay, Bahamas, Barbados, Trinidad, Tobago, and Saint Lucia. Africa and Oceania— Botswana, Mauritius, Seychelles, Fiji, Vanuatu, and Micronesia. Asia's China, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Israel, Philippines, and Hong Kong.
According to the information of 2026, Albanian passport holders can travel to 121 countries worldwide visa-free, or with a visa on-arrival in 75–95 countries.
Among these are Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Kosovo, Turkey, and Ukraine in Europe. Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Georgia, Armenia, and Kazakhstan in Asia. Brazil, Colombia, Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Dominica, and Barbados in South America. Africa's Rwanda, Zambia, and Gambia.
Liberian passport holders currently travel completely visa-free privilege to some 25 to 27 countries. Among these are Benin, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Togo, Barbados, Dominica, Ecuador, Haiti, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
On May 14, Obaidul Karim and his wife applied to the Metropolitan Senior Special Judge's Court of Dhaka seeking permission to go abroad. Following the hearing on that day, Dhaka Metropolitan Senior Special Judge Md. Sabbir Faiz rejected the application.
Earlier in March, they had applied to the High Court Division of the Supreme Court seeking permission to go abroad. On March 5, a High Court bench rejected the application and directed them to surrender all their passports to the lower court.
Seeking a stay on the High Court order, Obaidul Karim and his wife filed a petition to the Appellate Division (Criminal Petition No. 1089/2026). A four-member Appellate Division bench, led by Chief Justice Zubayer Rahman Chowdhury dismissed the petition on Tuesday last. As a result, Obaidul Karim and his wife will have to surrender all their passports to the lower court.
[This report, originally published in the Khaborer Kagoj print and online edition, has been rewritten in English]
