IHC takes up Axact fake degree case today

ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday (today) takes up the Axact fake degree case.

The appeal filed against the conviction of Axact CEO Shoaib Shaikh and others is pending with the court since 2018.

In July 2018, the Islamabad District and Sessions Judge Chaudhry Mumtaz Hussain had convicted Shoaib Sheikh and 22 others in the fake degree case and awarded them 20-year imprisonment under different charges. The judge had also imposed a fine of Rs1.3 million on each of the convicts. In October 2018, the IHC had suspended the sentence against Sheikh against Rs0.5 million surety bonds. Shoaib Sheikh and the others had been nominated in a First Information Report registered on June 7, 2015 under sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 473 and 109/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010. Prior to the conviction, Islamabad High Court (IHC) division bench in April 2018 had set aside the October 31, 2016 acquittal order passed by additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) Pervezul Qadir Memon, now sacked, due to pecuniary interests of the judge. IHC had sacked Judge Pervezul Qadir Memon who had acquitted Axact CEO Shoaib Shaikh after receiving a bribe of Rs5 million. Additional Sessions Judge Pervezul Qadir Memon had acquitted 27 Axact officials on October 31, 2016 had confessed before a departmental promotion committee that he had received the bribe.