Axact offices were returned on the basis of misinterpretation of court orders: Deputy Attorney-General

KARACHI: Justice Omar Ata Bandial and Justice Maqbool Baqar heard at the Supreme Court the contempt of court case relating to no vacating of Axact offices.

During the hearing, the lawyers of Axact prayed the court that Axact bank accounts frozen by the FIA under the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010 should be returned to Axact.

The FIA in its report said that the charges against Axact have now become obvious to a large extent.  FIA’s documentary evidence and the criminal nature of money remittance show that the Axact application has become invalid.

The Deputy Attorney-General said that it had not been said in the court’s earlier order that Axact’s office be returned, but the local FIA men misinterpreted the court order and erroneously returned Axact House to the Axact administration. The original evidences in the case are lying there. The court had asked the FIA to complete its investigation and data analyzation in one month, it had not asked them to vacate the office.

The Special Prosecutor of FIA, Barrister Zahid Jameel, while presenting his arguments with the permission of the court, said that the FIA has been in trouble after returning the Axact House because all the evidence is now in the hands of the accused.

The evidence collected by FIA’s forensic team so far are copies and not original. The original software and other documents are still in the Axact building Barrister Zahid Jameel said that the photographs show how the Axact administration after repossessing the building destroyed the evidence.

Justice Maqbool Baqar said that in fact the FIA now apprehends that not only original evidence is likely to be destroyed but also they can lose the case. At this juncture the court ordered the two parties to give the name of the experts who can remove the hurdles in the way of moving the Axact server from the office and ensure its transfer to the FIA and also ensure verification of the copies of the data.

The court said that it must be ensured that in no way shall the nature of the data as evidence be compromised. Last week, an additional district judge had turned down the bail applications of the owner of Axact Shoaib Shaikh and Waqas Atiq on the grounds that Shoaib Shaikh is at a hospital without permission from the Ministry of Interior.