Obaidul Karim

Obaidul Karim is a Bangladeshi businessman and the founder and chairman of Orion Group. He is the president of sporting club Mohammedan SC Limited. He is an innovative, enterprising Bangladeshi business icon who has instrumented his success in the field of diversified business portfolios.

Career The Orion Group was founded by Obaidul Karim during 1985 when he started with Orion Laboratories Ltd. The group's early growth was driven organically through operations in pharmaceuticals & LVPs and toiletries & cosmetics. In 1993 Orion acquired the then ailing Kohinoor Chemical Co Ltd, manufacturer of the major line of 'Tibet' brand toiletries and beauty care products. Orion has been a producer in the pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and toiletries sectors since 1985 in Bangladesh. More recently, Orion has been focused on infrastructure development and power generation businesses through major investments and joint ventures. One contribution in the country is the implementation of a 10 km elevated expressway (flyover) in Dhaka.

The Orion Group divides their operations into number of strategic business units with multiple subsidiary companies in agro products, cosmetic & toiletries, All three plants will use imported coal to generate electricity. Orion's current HFO fuelled power generation projects of 300MW in the country contribute significantly in mitigating acute power crisis in the country.

Infrastructure Orion Group's subsidiary companies are completing the Mayor Mohammad Hanif flyover in Dhaka. The dual carriageway flyover includes 11 slip roads or ramps (exit and entries) and will stretch from the Dhaka- Chittagong highway to Palashi. The contract is estimated to be completed by the end of 2014.

City Center Orion has also developed City Center, a major skyscraper in the Dhaka and the tallest building in the country. The City Center project is a 39-storied commercial complex cum car parking in the business area of Dhaka city set to be the highest building in Dhaka.

Controversy

Rise through political contacts He is said to have succeeded in business because of his closeness to former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia. Karim acquired two profitable state-owned enterprises (Kohinoor Chemical Industries and Mala Chemical Industries a.k.a. Orion Infusions) in the 1990s. In 1996, before the stock market collapsed later in the year, Orion announced large dividends and bonuses for their shareholders, pushing up their stock prices. However, after the market collapsed, the company did not produce any dividends or bonuses for their shareholders. After this happened, the Bangladesh Securities and Exchange Commission filed a case against him which was ineffective. Investigations showed that between 2001 and 2006, Karim large businesses and projects and also got involved in many financial scams. Most of the contracts won were awarded to him by the BNP government based on credibility. In total, Karim and his associated in the bank embezzled around Tk. 700 crore from the Oriental Bank. Most of the money was embezzled through One Denim Mills and One Entertainment, both of which were owned by Giasuddin Al Mamun.