KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Friday directed the Federal Investigation Agency to file comments on Axact Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shoaib Shaikh’s appeal against rejection of his bail plea in money laundering case by an additional district and sessions court.

The trial court on March 1 had rejected the bail application of Shoaib Shaikh, who was arrested by the FIA after the SHC had accepted FIA appeal against his acquittal.

The FIA had filed against the acquittal of Mr Shaikh in 2016 in money laundering case, arguing that he was exonerated from the charges by the trial court despite strong evidence that proved the Axact chief’s involvement in money laundering.

The Axact CEO was accused of having illegally transferred Rs170.17 million to a Dubai-based firm, Chanda Exchange Company, in April 2014.

On Friday, Shoaib Shaikh’s counsel prayed to the court to order his client’s release on bail, contending the charges labeled against him were baseless.

A two-judge bench of the high court issued notice to FIA and others directing them to file their respective replies by March 14. The Axact scandal surfaced in May 2015, when The New York Times published a report that claimed the company sold fake diplomas and degrees online through hundreds of fictitious schools, making “tens of millions of dollars annually”.

Following The New York Times report the offices of Axact were sealed, its CEO and key officials were arrested and a probe was launched on the basis of the allegations leveled by the NYT.

The news came just months after an in-depth investigation by Canada’s national broadcaster uncovered that hundreds of people working in diverse fields across Canada possessed bogus degrees issued by Axact.

In January, Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar took suo motu notice of the Axact fake degree scandal after international news reports said over 3,000 UK citizens had purchased fake degrees from Axact in 2013 and 2014.

In its last hearing, the apex court had ordered the Sindh and Islamabad high courts to promptly decide on the pending cases regarding Axact. The chief justice had directed the SHC to constitute a bench to hear the case within a week and give the verdict within two weeks.

KDA officials’ bail pleas

Meanwhile, another two-judge bench of the high court reserved judgement on the bail applications of former director general of the Karachi Development Authority Nasir Abbas and other accused persons in a case pertaining to illegal conversion of residential plots into commercial plots.

The bench reserved the verdict after the counsels of all sides concluded their arguments. The date of judgment’s pronouncement will be fixed later.

The former KDA DG along with other officials was booked and arrested in the reference filed by the National Accountability Bureau for allegedly transferring many plots meant for residential purpose to commercial use.

His counsel submitted that the charges labeled against Abbas were baseless as he was never involved in embezzling or misusing power. He said that the NAB had arrested his counsel even before the completion of inquiry. The NAB prosecutor, however, submitted that the accused persons in connivance with each other had caused a loss of Rs385 million to the national exchequer through ‘embezzling’ the land of the city. He prayed to the court to dismiss the bail applications as there were sufficient evidences against Abbas and others.

Published in Dawn, March 10th, 2018