Shoaib Shaikh acquitted in money laundering case

KARACHI: A Judicial Magistrate on Wednesday granted the acquittal plea of the Axact CEO Shoaib Shaikh and others allegedly involved in a money laundering case and the Axact fake degree scam.

The court found worth in the acquittal plea that said that despite of the passage of around one year, no proof were found against Shoaib Shaikh and his companions. The court, while quashing the cases, granted the plea of acquittal of Shoaib Shaikh.

It may be mentioned that the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge (East) had once rejected the bail pleas of nine employees of Axact in the cases pertaining to the charges of Axact fake degree scam.

The defence counsel argued that the accused were facing detention for the last one year and there was no chance of any developments in the case. Hence, it was fair to release the accused on bail.

The court had then observed that the accused did not deserve to be released due to their statements recorded under Section 161 of Criminal Procedure Code. The court had rejected the bail pleas of the Axact CEO Shoaib Shaikh, Muhammad Sabir, Waqas, Ateeq, Zeeshan Ahmed, Zeeshan Anwar and others.

Previously, Judge Sohail Muhammad Leghari had passed an order for the provision of the copies of the case to the accused. However, now the Judicial Magistrate concerned has granted acquittal pleas of the accused.

On June 7 last year, the FIA registered another FIR against Shoaib Shaikh, Aisha Shaikh, Vaqas Atiq and others. The charges, which have also been filed against 17 others, include fraud, fake identification, and money laundering.

A total of 17 directors, managers and operators from the Axact’s Islamabad Region were arrested over the same charges. The Axact CEO was later handed over to the FIA, Islamabad, for interrogation and was later brought to Karachi.