Handcuffed Axact chief, four others produced in court

KARACHI: Shoaib Shaikh, Axact’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Viqas Ateeq, Axact’s Chief Operating Officer, and three of their accomplices were produced by the FIA in a local court on Wednesday.
They were all handcuffed. The court remanded them in custody for interrogation till June 4, when the initial report of the inquiry will be presented.The court of Judicial Magistrate Noor Muhammad also directed the investigation officer (IO) to submit a final report on June 7.
When Shoaib Shaikh and other suspects were produced in the court, the judge asked Shaikh if he was tortured by the investigators. He replied in the negative. On the court’s query, he, however, said that he had not been allowed to sleep over the last four days. He told the court that no one had made any complaint about his company till 2006.
His lawyers, Advocate Shaukat Hayat and Naeem Qureshi, prayed to the court to send their client to prison as he was not feeling well. The court rejected the plea, stating that it was a very serious case and theThe court was informed that the suspects had given bad name to the country by commission of fraud, cyber crime, money laundering and fake degrees. Cases against the accused have been registered under Sections 420, 768, 471, 131, 109, 472, 473 and 474 of Pakistan Penal Code. Among other investigators, police officer Mubeen Ahmed and FIA Inspector Abdur Rauf were present in the court.
Saeed Memon, the FIA Corporate Circle Deputy Director, is the investigation officer in the case and the remand was granted on his request. The court was informed that two containers full of blank diplomas were found from Axact offices and more evidence was being collected.
Hours before the court proceedings, the investigators discovered the blank diplomas at the company’s Karachi headquarters.The Axact scandal came to light when the New York Times (NYT) published an investigative report claiming that the Pakistani IT company had made millions of dollars selling fake degrees online.
The FIA moved a local court, seeking permission to check financial transactions made in some five banks on behalf of the Axact. Through an application, IO Memon sought from District and Sessions Judge (South) Ahmed Sabah permission for checking alleged violation of rules by Axact, maintaining some 34 accounts in different banks. The court after hearing the arguments granted the permission. The court had granted permission.It is alleged that more than Rs20b has been deposited in these banks under different heads.