Mashrekha Jahan Mona

In the last 15 and a half years in the country, there has been a lot of looting and corruption in the private power sector.

The aggression of the Orion Group was terrible. The owner of the group, Obaidul Karim, lobbied at the highest levels of the previous government and looted thousands of crores of taka in collusion with the influential ministers and MPs of the government. By making business partners of the influential people, they built big power generation projects without tenders.

As per the terms of the contract, he got the responsibility of the project for a period of 3 years but subsequently extended the period automatically. In addition to extending the term, Obaidul Karim grabbed Tk 5000 crore only in the name of capacity charge without generating electricity. This includes non-existent companies.

Apart from this, Obaidul Karim has hastily approved a loan of at least Tk 10,500 crores before the fall of the Awami League government.

Bangladesh Bank approved a loan of Tk 10,500 crores on the proposal of 3 state-owned banks Agrani, Janata and Rupali for the power project of Orion Group, which is a non-existent company. This is not the end! It is also alleged that 7 companies of Orion have laundered 4000 crores of loans from various banks abroad in the name of power projects.

According to Power Development Board (PDB) data, power plants have been constructed in the private sector without any tender in the last 15 and a half years. Most of them were of no use. Among them, 7 companies of Orion Group related to private power generation have taken Tk 4 thousand 862 crore from the state only in the name of capacity charge without power generation.

The companies are Orion Power Meghnaghat Limited, Dutch-Bangla Power & Associates Limited, Digital Power & Associates Limited, Orion Power Dhaka Limited, Orion Power Dhaka Unit-2 Limited, Orion Power Rupsa Limited and Orion Power Sonargaon Limited. No existence of Orion Power Dhaka Unit-2 was found out of this.

During the tenure of the previous government, Bangladesh Bank violated at least two provisions of the Banking Act and in one bypassed the Bank Company Act and approved the disbursement of Tk 10,579 crore proposed by Agrani, Janata and Rupali banks.

Even after the detection of fraud and false information, the final approval of the loan is given through syndicate financing. In this, violation of single customer credit limit and violation of Bangladesh Bank and Bank Company Act rules were issued relaxing only in case of Orion (power sector).

Of this, a loan of Tk 5,780 crore has been approved from the troubled Janata Bank. The loan was sanctioned for a power project in Maheshkhali, Cox's Bazar in the name of Orion Power Dhaka-2 Limited (OPDL-2), a defunct company. However, questions have already been raised at the policy-making level of Bangladesh Bank itself regarding the distribution of this loan. It is said that the loan was not distributed due to liquidity crisis in the bank.

Obaidul Karim took a loan of 1 thousand 306 crores in the name of Dubai-based company Energon Technology and First Gen Energy and China Sunergy Company for the purpose of generating 100 MW of renewable solar power. The default amount of this loan is at least 500 crores. Obaidul Karim's partner in this company is his driver Khaled Muhammad Abdullah.

A loan of Tk 1,76 crore was taken in the name of Orion Power Dhaka Unit-2. No trace of it has been found. The amount of defaulted loans of this institution is also 500 crores. The company has a 60 percent stake in China Fuxian Energy. Apart from this, a loan of Tk 811 crore was taken in the name of Orion Power Sonargaon Limited for the purpose of generating 104 MW of electricity. Here also the amount of default is 500 crores.

A loan of Tk 235 crore was taken in the name of Orion Power Meghnaghat Limited to generate 100 MW of electricity under Quick Rental. A loan of Tk 625 crore was taken in the name of Orion Power Rupsa Limited for the purpose of generating 110 MW of electricity. In the name of Dutch-Bangla Power and Associates Limited, a loan of Tk. 102 crores and Digital Power and Associates Ltd. took a loan of Tk. 340 crores.

It is alleged that Obaidul Karim has laundered at least 4 thousand crores of taka abroad by taking loans in the name of various companies.

During the previous government's tenure, influential ministers-MPs and Awami League leaders were made business partners and without any tender or competition, in the last 15 years, in the name of 7 institutions, they took big power generation projects from the government. Initially, rental and quick rental power plants were installed for a period of 3 years, but this period has been extended step by step. This is how Obaidul Karim of Orion has been looting for 15 years. The same center is sold multiple times to Govt. Investors provide 25 to 30 percent of the total investment in these centers, while the rest is met through bank loans. Profit (Return of Equity) is given on equity investment. Although the government pays the construction cost of the power plant, the power plant remains with the private company.

Later the period was extended but the construction cost was paid against the same power plant. That cost is slightly lower than before. In this way, through rental and quick rental, there has been looting in the country, it is still happening.

Obaidul Karim has chosen influential ministers, MPs and top leaders of Awami League as accomplices in these misdeeds. Among them, Mirza Azam, an influential minister of the government, was chosen as a business partner of Digital Power and Associates Limited, established in 2014. He has been given 40 percent shares. Obaidul Karim's share in this company is 60 percent.

Former Member of Parliament of Feni Alauddin Ahmed Chowdhury Nasim has been made a business partner of Dutch-Bangla Power and Associates Limited established in 2011. Obaidul Karim left 30 percent to him and kept 70 percent himself.

Former Narayanganj MP Shamim Osman and 38.4 percent former minister Mirza Azam have been made business partners in Orion Power Sonargaon Limited. He kept the remaining 57.6 percent shares himself.

Apart from this, Obaidul Karim has made Mirza Azam a partner by giving 19.4 percent shares of Orion Power Rupsa Limited.

None was available to make comments on the above allegations despite calling serveral times.