Shoaib Sheikh, 13 others get bail in fake degree scam case

KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday granted bail to the chief executive officer of Axact and 13 other directors and employees in the fake degree scam case.

The bail applications of Axact CEO, Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh, and directors, Waqas Atiq, Rizwan Ahmed, Imran Ahmed Khan, Atif Hussain, Adnan Saboor and others, had been filed before the SHC against rejection of their bail from the Sessions court in the Axact fake degree and money-laundering scam.

Axact’s CEO, Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh, and other directors were booked by the FIA for their involvement in the fake degree scam and money-laundering charges, and the proceedings were pending before the trial court.

Applicants counsel Shaukat Hayat submitted that the applicants/accused were behind the bars for the last 15 months but the investigators had failed to make any progress in the investigation of the scam. 

He contended that despite the submission of the charge-sheet, the charges had not formally been framed against any of the applicants/accused, which clearly showed that the prosecution lacked the evidence to connect their role with the commission of the offence.

He argued that the prosecution had placed 90 prosecution witnesses and prepared 39 Mushirs (Mushir-namas) along with 2.2 million documents and investigation had been completed now, but the trial was deliberately being delayed.

He claimed that not a single complainant in the case had appeared before the trial court, which meant that there was not a single person aggrieved as was alleged in the FIR, thus there was no basis of registering an FIR against the applicants/accused and keeping them behind the bars for long time.

The lawyer argued that the applicants were not involved in any heinous crime such as terrorism, adding that the sections added in the FIR were bailable.  Therefore, the court was pleaded to grant bail to the applicants, who were ready to furnish surety in return, in terms of Section 497(i) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The counsel for the FIA submitted that the FIA has sufficient forensic evidence against Axact that defamed the country in the fake degree scam.  He submitted that Axact had generated ill-gotten money through the fake degree scam, and it has committed fraud by making fake online universities. 

The counsel submitted that the prosecution did not cause any delay in the trial proceedings as the main accused, Shoaib Sheikh, was admitted in the hospital, and many a time hearing of the case was adjourned on the request of the defendants’ side. 

He requested the court to dismiss the bail application of the Axact directors as the FIA has sufficient evidence to prove its case before the trial court. 

SHC’s single bench comprising Justice Mohammad Iqbal Kalhoro after hearing the arguments of the counsel, for reason to be recorded later, granted bail to the applicants with surety of Rs500,000 each.

It is pertinent to mention that the FIA’s previous special public prosecutors, Zahid Jamil, Salahuddin Gandapur and others, had on previous hearing disassociated themselves from the bail applications’ proceedings of M/s Axact directors pending at the Sindh High Court due to circumstances having arisen and said they were unable to proceed further with such proceedings.