DHAKA, Jan 08, 2026 (BSS) - The ACC today filed a case against 13 people, including Orion Group Chairman Mohammad Obaidul Karim, for embezzling Taka 507,51, 41,341 through “loan fraud" involving Mercantile Bank Limited.

Director General of the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) Md. Akhtar Hossain disclosed the information to the journalists during its regular media briefing at the commission’s headquarters here.

The case has been filed under sections 409/420/109 of the Penal Code, section 5(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 and section 4(2) of the Money Laundering Prevention Act, 2012.

The principal accused of the case includes - Orion Group Chairman Mohammad Obaidul Karim, its Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Salman Obaidul Karim, former Managing Director and CEO of Mercantile Bank Limited Md. Kamrul Islam Chowdhury, current Managing Director of the bank Matiul Hasan, former Deputy Managing Director (DMD) and branch manager Gaus-ul-Wara Mortaza, former Vice President and Credit In-Charge Pratap Kumar Deshmukh, former Vice President and Manager (Operations) Md. Aliullah, former and current Credit In-Charges Md. Abdul Kader, Md. Babar Ali Molla, Md. Ikramul Islam Khan, Md. Abdul Halim and Md. Atiqur Rahman.

The ACC investigation found that the accused had colluded to approve a loan against insufficient collateral.

Violating banking laws, the investigation by the anti-graft watchdog said, two foreign-currency term loans taken from the bank’s offshore banking unit were brought under the domestic banking unit and converted into two new term loans in local currency.

Later, under the pretext of settling the liability of a classified loan, a new loan was created and the loan tenure was extended by another seven years, which, according to the allegations, provided undue benefits to the client.

Approximately Tk 5 billion was “embezzled” through the rescheduling of the loan.

Meanwhile, to verify the accurate statement of assets acquired by Orion Group Chairman Mohammad Obaidul Karim and his wife Arzuda Karim, a director of Orion Group and Orion Infusion Limited and to uncover information about assets acquired in their own or proxy names, the ACC has issued an order under section 26(1) of the Anti-Corruption Commission Act, 2004, directing them to submit their statements of assets.