Axact owners may face money laundering cases

ISLAMABAD: The Axact, its owners and administration will have to face the prosecution under various articles of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) for committing money laundering and fraud at first stage as startling revelations have been made by the investigators on this count after thorough probe.
The criminal cases will be registered in Islamabad and Karachi within a couple of days during next week. The company will have to face allegations under cyber crimes and for that international links are being established through unimpeachable evidence.
Highly placed government sources told The News here Saturday that Axact company was given NOC for carrying out business in Information Technology (IT) and the approval was given to it without proper verification by the agencies concerned in 2006 as no report was sought from any intelligence gathering agency that was the requirement before the issuance of the NOC. The process was flawed but the approval was given in sheer violation of the related laws.
Federal Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan has also confirmed that Axact diverted from the business for what it got the permission and started other activities. He declined to elaborate it further. In the meanwhile, sources said that Axact was working through its active links in Cyprus and Baltic State in Northern Europe, Latvia where it had its operational offices. It did use its links in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) initially but later left it and shifted the hub to Latvia and Cyprus from where it had been establishing its contacts with world till now.
In the meanwhile, yet in another development Akbar Khan Hoti, Director General Federal Investigation Agency, has left for Saudi Arabia suddenly. He will be performing Umrah during his stay in the Kingdom. He left for the sojourn amid peak of the probe about Axact but sources maintained that he is undertaking the visit on private count. “The Umrah visit has got nothing to do with any official assignment since he will be returning home immediate after performance of Umrah,” the sources added.