Gazi Anowar and Muhammad Ayub Ali :
Orian Group allegedly embezzled Tk 1,360 crore from the Jatrabari-Gulistan Flyover, also known as the Mayor Mohammed Hanif Flyover, by unlawfully inflating the construction costs in collaboration with the Dhaka City Corporation (DCC).
According to data from the Dhaka City Corporation, the initial cost of the Jatrabari-Gulistan flyover project was estimated at approximately Tk 670 crore.
Obaidul Karim, the owner of the group, secured loans totalling Tk 600 crore from various banks at 10 per cent interest against the flyover project.
In the name of constructing the flyover, Karim took Tk 450 crore in loans from four state-owned banks, along with a credit of Tk 50 crore from SIBL Bank. Among the state-owned banks, Janata Bank
approved Tk 200 crore, Agrani Bank Tk 150 crore, ICB Bank Tk 50 crore, and Rupali Bank Tk 150 crore.
However, in collaboration with the then Project Director Asikur Rahman and Dhaka City Corporation, Karim inflated the project cost to Tk 2,378 crore from the original Tk 670 crore under the guise of “arbitration.”
According to the agreement with Simplex Infrastructure Ltd, an India-based construction company, the total cost of the flyover construction was set at Tk 788 crore, far above the original estimate of Tk 670 crore. Yet, the expenditure was unlawfully increased to Tk 2,378 crore.
Furthermore, Karim took an additional Tk 2,150 crore from various banks by offering mortgages through bond discounts. It is alleged that nearly Tk 1,362 crore of this amount was laundered abroad.
Meanwhile, the bank statements of Belhasa and Ekam Engineering revealed that the actual expenditure on the Jatrabari flyover project was Tk 790 crore, with the remaining documents, amounting to Tk 1,360 crore, unaccounted for.
In another development, Belhasa-Ekam JV & Associates was illegally renamed as Orion Infrastructure on 28 November 2011. Obaidul Karim allegedly forged the signatures of Belhasa’s principal partner, Majed Belhasa, and partner, Mujibul Haque, expelling them from the company without holding an AGM.
Investigations have further revealed that Karim only reported 40 per cent of the toll collected from the Jatrabari flyover, with the remaining 60 per cent of the toll revenue being secretly diverted over 12 years.
This was also reflected on the ground, where individuals in Orion uniforms were seen collecting tolls and handing receipts to drivers at various points along the flyover, except at certain designated toll plazas. There was no record of these transactions in the computer software.
According to data from the Roads and Highways Department, between 8,000 and 10,000 vehicles pass over the Mayor Hanif flyover each hour. Based on this, the annual toll collection should be approximately Tk 1,200 crore, yet Orion accounts for only Tk 140 crore to Tk 178 crore annually.