SC strictly monitoring proceedings of Axact cases

KARACHI: It is widely being discussed in judicial and government circles that if the main accuse in the Axact degree scandal Shoaib Shaikh, who has not appeared in the two hearings, would be once again acquitted in the money laundering case as in the past without appearing in the courts for 10 months.

But, perhaps this time it may not be possible as the Supreme Court is strictly monitoring the Axact cases and the court proceedings, and this could be the reason for the Supreme Court to demonstrate strictness during the hearing on Tuesday.

In the money laundering case the FIA had registered a Hundi/Hawala case involving a large amount of money on October 24, 2015 and took accused Shoaib Shaikh in its custody and sent him to prison. In the interim challan, Hundi/Hawala was established through 116 cheques but in the final challan on March 31, 2016, Hundi/Hawala was proved through 212 cheques. All these cheques bore the signatures of Axact CEO Shoaib Shaikh.

However, the FIA submitted 207 cheques in the court, while five cheques could not be found in the record. All the cheques bore the signatures of Shoaib Shaikh and were released from April 24, 2014 to March 24, 2015. The account, from where the cheques were released, was opened in the name of Naseem Akhtar, the mother of Shoaib Shaikh who on the very next day, used the power of attorney in his name, to operate the account.

The investigation officer Inspector Ahmed Jan submitted 207 cheques in the court along with a ist of 26 witnesses. The witnesses were Khawaja Arshad Aijaz, Malik Ahmed Raza son of Aslam, Muhammad Ayub Ahsan son of Muhammad Ahsan, Adil Jan son of Mehtar Jan, Constable Malik Nasir Iqbal, Constable Nasir Iqbal, Constable Rameez Ahmed, Muhammad Ashraf son of Muhammad Ismail, Muhammad Amir son of Muhammad Irfan, Muhammad Ali Memon son of Muhammad Idrees, Muhammad Arif son of Abdul, Muhammad Asif son of Abdul Shakoor, Syed Idrees Shamshad son of Syed Shamshad Ali, Sohail Raees son of Raees-u-Din, Muhammad Zubair son of Muhammad Zahoor Raja, Muhammad Waqar son of Muhammad Iqbal, Muhammad Qasim son of Abdul Sattar, Muhammad Mehboob son of Haji Qasim Bhatti, Naseem Ahmed son of Nazeer Ahmed, Muhammad Atif Shah son of Nadir Shah, Iftikhar Ali son of Haji Allah Dino, Muhammad Mansoor Mehmand, Sub Inspector FIA, Shahaam Hafeez Khan, Duty Officer FIA Cyber Crime Circle, Honourable Magistrate Nizamudin Larak and Investigation officer Inspector Ahmed Jan.

The statements of two witnesses Muhammad Ali Memon and Muhammad Asif were recorded before the Magistrate under section 164 of the CrPC. The proceeding of the case went on for ten months in the court of Mr Sohail Muhammad Laghari, District and Sessions Judge South VI, in the Central Jail Karachi. During the ten months, hearing was fixed for 20 times but the main accused Shoaib Shaikh despite being lodged in the jail did not appear in the court and neither was he indicted. Since the Axact CEO was not indicted, not even a single witness’s statement was recorded. Later, the honourable court dismissed the case under section A-249 of the CrPC on August 24, 2016 and issued orders to acquit the accused.

The hounourable court in the last para of its judgment mentioned "in view of circumstances and evidences, I have reached the conclusion that even if the court proceedings are conducted against the accused, there is no possibility of his conviction, therefore I acquit accused Shoaib Shaikh under section A-249 of the CrPC."

The FIA submitted a criminal appeal no 390/2016 in the High Court Against the acquittal of accused Shoaib Shaikh and pleaded to set aside the judgment. The appeal however, kept pending for 13 months and only when the Supreme Court took suo motu notice, the proceedings on the appeal started afresh. Following the SHC decision Shoaib Shaikh was arrested from the court premises. Meanwhile, the two co-accused Muhammad Younis and Muhammad Junaid, who were employees of the Chand Money Exchange who were on an interim bail after submitting Rs10 million bail bonds each by the high court. Following reopening of the case, they once again submitted security bonds worth Rs10 million each in the Sindh High Court and they currently on an interim bail. During the hearing of the case in the Sindh High Court, the FIA submitted statements of two witnesses.

It is also worth mentioning here that during the 10-month trial in which Shoaib Shaikh did not appear in the court, the Axact CEO was accomodated in a lavish barrack which was previously allotted to an influential political personality of Sindh. The barrack reserved for the A-class accused has once again been assigned to Shoain Shaikh but this time he is sharing it with Sindh minister.