IHC suspends CEO Axact’s jail terms, grants him bail

ISLAMABAD: Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday has suspended Axact's CEO Shoaib Sheikh's 20 years jail sentence and granted him bail against surety bonds worth Rs500,000.

Justice Athar Minallah of IHC conducted the hearing and granted bail to Axact CEO Shoaib Sheikh. Earlier the Sessions Court of Islamabad had convicted Shoaib Sheikh and 22 others in the fake degree scam case and awarded 20 years imprisonment and fine of Rs1.3 million on each.

During the hearing Shoaib Sheikh's counsel Raja Rizwan Abbasi argued in the court to suspend the sentence of his client till the appeal against the trial court's decision is concluded. He also pointed out some legal mistakes in the decision.

To this Justice Athar Minallah remarked that that there is no complainant in the case. “The prosecution failed to prove that degrees were fake, those two witnesses that have been presented by the FIA were also not the complainants,” judge observed.

Officials from Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) argued before the court that hundreds of thousands of people were defrauded but not even a single victim lodged a complaint. After hearing the arguments IHC has suspended Axact's CEO Shoaib Sheikh's 20 years jail sentence and granted him bail against surety bonds worth Rs500,000.