Despite serving a 48-year prison term for three distinct crimes of money embezzlement, money laundering, and obtaining wealth through illicit methods, Obaidul Karim is in a good position. He has been using the strategies of having the case materials vanish and postponing the hearing for 16 years. He is the subject of 14 cases in total, three of which are still pending conviction. Of these, 11 lawsuits alleging Tk 488 crore and Tk 50 lakh in embezzlement were brought against Oriental Bank. The trial of these cases, which were filed in 2007, is at a halt. However, the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has taken initiatives to overcome this situation.
The chairman of Orion Group, Obaidul Karim, who is widely criticized for fraud and scamming, was ranked second in the list of top corrupt persons during the caretaker government in 2007. At that time, he was in hiding to avoid arrest during the operation of the anti-corruption task force formed by the joint forces. However, he was not saved from the corruption case and sentence. The judgment was pronounced in the special court in his absence. He was sentenced to at least 48 years in three cases, including life in one. He was sentenced to life imprisonment (30 years) for embezzling about Tk 7 crore from Oriental Bank in one of these cases and fined an amount equal to the amount of embezzlement. A further two years' imprisonment was announced in default of payment of the fine. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison for laundering Tk 2 crore abroad, and he was also fined an amount equal to the amount of laundering money. A further two years' imprisonment was declared in default of payment of the fine. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison for acquiring assets worth Tk 50 crore through illegal means and concealing information about assets. A fine of Tk 10 lakh was imposed. Another year's imprisonment was declared in default of the fine.
The incident of vanishing documents in a life imprisonment case: The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) filed a case against Obaidul Karim in Motijheel police station on February 1, 2007, on charges of embezzlement of Tk 6.7 million from Oriental Bank. After the trial of this case, in a verdict on December 27 of the same year, the Special Judge Court sentenced Obaidul Karim to life imprisonment (30 years) and a fine equivalent to embezzlement. Obaidul Karim appealed to the High Court to cancel this verdict in 2008. The High Court suspended the sentence the same year after the hearing. When the ACC appealed against the order of the High Court, the Appellate Division suspended the judgment of the High Court in 2009. The Appellate Division also ordered Obaidul Karim to surrender to the judicial court. It took about a year for the documents to reach the lower court along with the order of the high court. The documents reached the judicial court on December 9, 2010. After that, the document remained missing for 12 years. The ACC interrogated five people concerned on April 20, 2022, when the matter of missing documents came to light. Finally, the documents were found, but the deadlock in the case did not end.
Officials of the prosecution wing of the ACC said that the commission has taken the initiative to activate all the pending cases. The lawyers appointed by the ACC will be changed as necessary.
13-year imprisonment in an illegal wealth case: Abdul Karim, Deputy Director of ACC, filed the case in Ramna Police Station on charges of obtaining Tk 52.92 million illegally and concealing wealth information on October 8, 2007. At the end of the trial, Judge Khandkar Kamal Uz-Zaman of Special Judge Court-9 gave a total of 13 years of rigorous imprisonment, including ten years for acquiring illegal wealth and three years for concealing information, on June 25, 2008. Assets worth Tk 52 crore and 90 lakh were declared confiscated in the verdict.
In addition, a fine of Tk 10 lakh was imposed. If the fine wasn't paid, a further year in jail was announced. The verdict said that since Obaidul was absconding, the sentence would start from the day he surrendered or was arrested. Obaidul Karim, however, appealed the decision to the High Court. The High Court suspended the judgment after the hearing. When the ACC appealed against the order of the High Court, it suspended the order of the High Court and ordered Obaidul Karim to surrender to the judicial court. The legal process has come to a halt since the court was unable to locate the necessary documents.
5 years imprisonment in a money laundering case: ACC Deputy Director Syed Iqbal Hossain filed a case in Gulshan Police Station on the charge of smuggling Tk 2 crore abroad through seven cheques on October 10, 2007. After the trial in this case, the special court sentenced him to five years of imprisonment on August 13, 2008. Apart from this, a fine of Tk 2 crore and one-year imprisonment were announced in default in this case. Obaidul Karim appealed to the High Court against this verdict. Similarly, his appeal to the High Court and Appellate Division was rejected. Even today, this judgment has not been implemented.
Eleven more cases of money embezzlement: Eleven cases were filed against Obaidul Karim, the former chairman of the bank and the chairman of Orion Group, for embezzling about Tk 488.5 million through fraud and deception on February 1, 2007. Manjur Hossain, the then Senior Vice President and Head of the Human Resource Development Department of that bank, filed the cases at Tejgaon Police Station. It was alleged in these cases that Obaidul Karim opened a fake account through fraud and embezzled Tk 488.5 million from several branches of the capital, including Banshal, Nawabpur, Mirpur, and Karwan Bazar, while he was the chairman of that bank. There is stagnation in the trial of these cases.
Controversial rise of Obaidul Karim: Obaidul Karim emerged in the business world by buying Kohinoor Chemical Industries, which was auctioned in 1993. Orion Infusion Limited was listed on the stock market in 1994. When the country's stock market crashed in 1996, Orion announced large dividends and bonus shares for its shareholders. This caused Orion's share price to increase manifold. However, after the stock market crash, Orion did not pay any dividends or bonus shares. The Securities and Exchange Commission filed a case against Orion. The case was later dismissed as incomplete. At that time, the ACC investigated the manipulation of the stock market. But no report of that search has seen the light of day.
According to an ACC report in 2007, Obaidul Karim did some big project work between 2001 and 2006. At the same time, information about rigging and irregularities—corruption—was found in the tender. Since 2001, there has been a wide discussion in the country about the corruption of Obaidul Karim. However, the case was not filed due to various influences. After One Eleven in 2007, one case after another began to be filed against him. He has always gotten away with unethical relationships with unscrupulous individuals at the highest levels of government and continued deception and fraud.
