Anyone linked with Axact degree scandal won’t be spared: CJ

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court warned on Wednesday that anyone found associated with the Axact fake degree scandal would not be spared and summoned all the accused on February 9.

Axact claims to be the "world's largest IT company" and operates hundreds of fake online universities run by agents from a Karachi-based call centre. A three-member bench headed by Chief Justice Saqib Nisar heard the suo moto case.

On January 18, the chief justice took a suo moto notice of the Axact fake degree scandal and sought a report from the FIA within 10 days. He had said that the news circling in the media regarding the fake degrees awarded by Axact had defamed Pakistan internationally.

“Our heads hang in shame due to the scandal,” the chief justice remarked and warned that those bringing a bad name to Pakistan would not be allowed to go scot-free. On Wednesday, during the course of hearing, he observed that the country's name was being brought into disrepute and warned that no one would be spared and everyone's name was to be placed on the Exit Control List (ECL).

The chief justice asked FIA Director General Bashir Memon as to what the case was about as it was being highlighted again. The FIA chief informed the court that Axact's headquarter was located in Karachi, adding that the scandal first surfaced in May 2015 after the publication of an article in a foreign publication.

He submitted that websites of 330 global universities were created from Karachi, and telephone numbers on the sites would be foreign but were received in Karachi. To a query, the FIA said the agency lodged four cases in total. The suspects were exonerated in two of these, the decisions of which were challenged in the high courts, one case was under trial in Karachi and the one in Peshawar was yet to start.

Meanwhile, the court summoned the registrars of Islamabad and Sindh high courts on the next date of hearing. Axact claims to be the "world's largest IT company" and operates hundreds of fake online universities run by agents from a Karachi-based call centre. In 2015, it sold more than 215,000 fake qualifications globally through approximately 350 fictitious high schools and universities, making $51m (£37.5m) that year alone.

Axact's chief executive was arrested and an investigation launched by the Pakistani authorities after a New York Times expose in 2015. A senior manager of the company, Umair Hamid, was sentenced to 21 months in a US prison in August 2017 for his part in Axact's fraud.