KARACHI: Fortune finally smiled on Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh, the chief executive officer of Axact and key figure in the fake degrees scandal, when the Sindh High Court (SHC)ordered his release on bail in a money laundering case on Saturday.

The single-judge bench of Justice Fahim Ahmed Siddiqui gave Mr Shaikh bail in the sum of Rs1 million.

On Feb 26, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested Mr Shaikh after foiling his attempt to flee the Sindh High Court’s premises following the rejection of his application for protective bail.

The court had earlier annulled his acquittal in a money laundering case on the appeal of the FIA.

Soon afterwards a two-judge SHC bench accepted the FIA’s appeal against his acquittal by a sessions court in the case pertaining to the illegal transfer of Rs170.17 million to a Dubai-based firm, Chanda Exchange Company, in April 2014. Mr Shaikh had moved the application in the court for getting protective bail. However, the bench headed by Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto rejected the Axact chief’s bail plea and directed him to approach the trial court for remedy.

The Axact fake degree 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”.

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

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2018