‘Circumstances of Karachi’ cited as reason; one prosecutor dissociated
from case in January to preserve his professional conduct
ISLAMABAD: The evidence has been collected and involvement of the top management of Axact company in the fake degree scandal has been established but there is no lawyer to plead the case as another three prosecutors quit on Monday due to the “circumstances of Karachi”.
Among those who resigned include an old friend of director FIA (Karachi), Shahab Osto, a leading prosecutor in this case, after Barrister Zahid Jamil who had disassociated himself from the case in January this year due to “circumstances have arisen” in which he was unable to continue further in the interests of preservation of “my professional conduct”.
Haq Nawaz Talpur and Shahabuddin Gandapur are two other senior lawyers who tendered their resignation on Monday from representing the FIA in the Axact scandal. Four prosecutors have excused by now from the case and as many high court judges recused themselves from hearing the bail applications filed by the accused, including Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh.
“There was no direct pressure but we were not comfortable. There were disturbing signs that we sensed,” said Shahab Osto who became part of the prosecution team on the desire of Director FIA (Karachi), Shahid Hayat, his friend for the last two decades. Asked to explain the disturbing signs, Osto replied: “You know the circumstances of Karachi.”
Shahab said the case was strong enough to secure convictions and recalled extensive efforts made by him and the FIA investigators in collecting prosecutable evidences. That Axact management behind the bars has been unable to secure bail since September last year and it reflects on the preparation of the case and the way it has been defended while facing the top lawyers of the country representing the accused, he said.
All was set to brief the court on Monday about Shoaib Sheikh’s operations with pseudonym, Ryan Jones, the complaint received from a diplomatic channel about the extortion from a Saudi citizen in the name of degree, proof of offshore companies, details of Axact’s business empire spreading over different continents and individual role of every member of the management in this fraud.
However, as the court was held to hear the details, resignations of three prosecutors were submitted before the bench instead, thus diverting the attention from the smoking gun found in the Axact case to the smoke inside the FIA, leaving no option for the prosecutors but to quit.
The prosecutors were to inform the court on the basis of already submitted evidences that the name ‘Ryan Jones’ used in different documents of offshore companies and in correspondence with lawyers in cases against fictitious universities has been identified as that of Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh, who had been denying any link with the degree mill.
And that Sheikh has deposited a sworn affidavit before an American court acknowledging the ownership of three offshore companies that he had been denying before the Pakistani courts.
The forensic reports submitted along with the final challan by the FIA offered sufficient evidence to establish that Shoaib Sheikh has been using the pseudonym, Ryan Jones. This has not only been established through digital forensics, the treasure trove of documents further solidified it as the name has been used in papers.
Included among them is an agreement Shoaib and his US lawyer on which Shoaib had signed his name above the name of “Ryan Jones” for engaging purely personal services in connection with a request that his name be cleared in a visa security clearance at the US Embassy.
A letter dated May 10, 2012 sent to Ryan Jones from a US-based legal firm mentions the address of DHA Phase VII, Karachi. Content of the letter is also instructive: “Enclosed please find the Filed Fictitious Name Certificate from the New Castle county Prothonotary in Delaware for the above-reference company…”
The above-referenced company is Tullow Inc., together with that of Mivvel Inc., and Tinko Inc., whose ownerships have already been acknowledged by Sheikh, his sister, Uzma Shaheen and Viqas Atiq in sworn affidavits sent to the Michigan Court that froze the companies’ accounts in a bid to recover a fine of Rs2.30 billion for issuing fake degrees to 30,000 students in Michigan alone.
In addition to their affidavits, the US’s Federal Bureau of Investigation has also confirmed these matters in a letter sent on February 8 this year to the FIA. “Regarding financial accounts located in the United States, Axact appears to have set up three primary shell companies in the United States, by the names of Mivvel Inc., Tullow Inc., and Tinko Inc., as well as various tertiary shell companies, to include, but not limited to Blitzace Inc.”
The FBI letter further reads: “Viqas Atiq, the Chief Operating Officer of Axact, holds 49% of the shares of Mivvel Inc. Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh and the Owner/ President of Axact, holds 49% of the shares of Tullow and Tinko. With respect to Mivvel Inc., the remaining 51% of the shares belong to Ali Ghaffar Vyajokra……With respect to Tinko and Tullow, the majority shareholders are Zubair Syed (Tullow) … and Uzma Shaheen (Tinko).”
Examination of forensic documents submitted before the court also indicate that the name Ryan Jones has been used in the correspondence of the above-referenced companies as “authorised representatives” and as “senior manager”. In addition to this, ‘Ryan Jones’ has been used in correspondence with a legal firm engaged for Belford University that came under spotlight in the Michigan court in the fake degree case.
Investigators term this evidence as a smoking gun. “This is equivalent to a smoking gun which implicates Shoaib to Ryan Jones and in turn Ryan Jones to bank/ merchant accounts and company incorporations which Shoaib kept secret and undeclared to any authority in Pakistan,” an official privy to the details said.
Importantly, none of the revenues and income from these accounts and companies has ever been reported by Shoaib to any authority in Pakistan, including the State Bank of Pakistan and Federal Board of Revenue.
As a matter of fact, Axact argued in the past that various entities identified by the FIA were not owned by Axact or its owners/ management, including the offshore companies. Instead, Mivvel, Tullow and Tinko were declared by Axact lawyers as clients/ customers who they served as a BPO (Business Processing Outsourcing) provider.
Their claims are in contrast with declaration before the Michigan court where Shoaib Sheikh and Viqas Atiq have admitted being the owners of the companies they have been alleging are customers (Mivvel, Tinko, Tullo). These are the companies that were at the point of sale/ source of when the money for fake transactions and extortion were taken from their victims.
The funds received to these shell companies were only transferred to Axact Dubai and Pakistan. Incidentally, the sworn affidavits submitted before the Michigan court were sent during imprisonment, nevertheless, it has been declared in them that the ongoing investigation in Pakistan is unrelated to Mivvel, Tinko and Tullow whose names are included in the FIA challans.
