KARACHI: Welcoming the suo moto notice of the Axact fake degree scandal by the Supreme Court, Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) has appealed Chief Justice of Pakistan to personally monitor the investigation and cases against the Axact and BOl.
On January 18, the chief justice took a suo moto notice of the Axact fake degree scandal and sought a report from the FIA within 10 days. He had said that the news circling in the media regarding the fake degrees awarded by Axact had defamed Pakistan internationally.
In a statement, PBA expressed gratitude to the apex court for taking suo moto notice and appealed the Chief Justice to personally monitor all the cases and investigations pertaining to Axact and BOL so that such cases could be brought to logical conclusion in a fair manner.
The PBA also filed a petition in the Supreme Court to become party against Axact; involved in extortion and selling fake degrees.
The petition was filed through senior lawyer Asma Jahangir and Ahmed Qazi.
The Supreme Court warned on Wednesday that anyone found associated with the Axact fake degree scandal would not be spared and summoned all the accused on February 9.
Axact claims to be the "world's largest IT company" and operates hundreds of fake online universities run by agents from a Karachi-based call centre.
A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar heard the suo moto case.
“Our heads hang in shame due to the scandal,” the chief justice remarked and warned that those bringing a bad name to Pakistan would not be allowed to go scot-free.”
On Wednesday, during the course of hearing, he observed that the country's name was being brought into disrepute and warned that no one would be spared and everyone's name was to be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL).
Axact's chief executive was arrested and an investigation launched by the Pakistani authorities after a New York Times expose in 2015. A senior manager of the company, Umair Hamid, was sentenced to 21 months in a US prison in August 2017 for his part in Axact's fraud.
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