SHC Reopens Money Laundering Case Against Axact CEO
Posted by AITZAZ HASSAN
Sindh High Court (SHC) has accepted Federal Investigation Agency’s appeal to re-open the case against Axact CEO Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh. FIA filed the appeal against Shoaib Ahmed after a local court exonerated him of any corruption charges.
It was found that the judge took bribes to issue orders in favor of the controversial company’s CEO.
Supreme Court took the case and ordered high courts to handle the Axact issue within 15 days.
Supreme Court and the Suo Moto Notice
Supreme Court of Pakistan took a suo moto notice after the news appeared that Axact was involved in selling fake degrees to Canadian and UK citizens. The apex court of Pakistan ordered Islamabad and Sindh High Courts to decide all cases involving Axact within 15 days of the decision.
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Axact CEO was previously acquitted by a local sessions court in the money laundering case. FIA accused the CEO of laundering Rs 170.17 million to Dubai through a firm called Chanda Exchange Company. Sessions court judge ruled that Shoaib Sheikh can’t be convicted in this case due to low possibility of intention. Shoaib Sheikh didn’t attend the hearings of the case as well.
Later, it was found out that the judge named Pervaizul Qadir Memon took a bribe to clear Shoaib Sheikh’s name. The accused judge confessed to his crime in front of Supreme Court judges as well.
FIA appealed to the Sindh High Court which has just recently been accepted. FIA is ready to arrest Shoaib Sheikh as he hasn’t been granted a bail in this case yet. Sheikh’s lawyers are saying that court hasn’t ordered Shoaib’s arrest and he should be allowed time to file for a bail.
Sindh High Court has ordered that case will go to retrial in a local trial court. The date for the next hearing hasn’t been announced yet.
The Axact and fake degrees case emerged back in 2015 after New York Times’ report that Axact sold millions of fake degrees online. Last month, BBC and other news outlets reported that Axact sold over 3000 degrees to UK citizens. This report led to a suo moto notice by the Supreme Court of Pakistan.
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