ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday arrested Shoaib Shaikh, the owner and chief executive officer of Axact, and shifted him to Adiala jail months after he had been convicted in a fake degree scam case, FIA sources confirmed to Dawn.

On July 6, the district and sessions judge, Islamabad, had sentenced him to 20-year imprisonment in the fake degrees scam case. Twenty-four of his accomplices were also convicted in the same case and they were given jail terms ranging between three and seven years.

However, the Axact chief had not surrendered to the court following his conviction and managed to escape. The FIA reportedly did not make any effort for his arrest during the past two and a half months.

The sources said the FIA arrested him on Tuesday as the Supreme Court was set to resume hearing in the matter on Thursday.

The FIA had registered an inquiry on May 19, 2015, against M/s Axact Ltd Islamabad region on a charge of preparing and selling degrees of fake online educational institutions with fake accreditation bodies, enticing innocent people through impersonation as student counsellors within Pakistan and abroad.

Published in Dawn, September 26th, 2018