Axact CEO Shoaib Sheikh arrested from outside SHC

Описание: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested on Monday Axact CEO Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh, shortly after he came out of the Sindh High Court.

The federal government, through the Federal Investigation Authority (FIA), had challenged an order passed by the District and Sessions Judge-V, Karachi on August 24, 2016, that acquitted Sheikh and 13 others in a money laundering case.

The Axact CEO was accused of having illegally transferred Rs170.17 million to a Dubai-based firm, Chanda Exchange Company, in April 2014.

During today’s proceedings, the court rejected Sheikh’s lawyers’ plea to grant three-day protective bail to him, reported.

The FIA had filed a plea against Sheikh’s acquittal in the case. He is now reportedly being moved to agency’s corporate crime cell and will be produced before a trial court tomorrow.

SHC warns Axact chief over no-show

Besides Sheikh, the court also rejected bails of two others accused in the case, and directed to dispose off the case within three months.

Media reports suggest that an FIA team was present outside the courtroom since morning to take Sheikh into custody but he didn’t come out.

On February 15, the Islamabad High Court removed a judge from service for taking a Rs5 million bribe to acquit Sheikh and others in the fake degree scam.

The Axact scandal surfaced in May 2015 when The New York Timespublished a report that claimed the company sold fake diplomas and degrees online through hundreds of fictitious schools, making “tens of millions of dollars annually”.

Subsequently, the offices of Axact were sealed, its CEO and key officials were arrested and a probe was launched on the basis of the allegations.