ISLAMABAD: The Federal Investiga­tion Agency (FIA) informed the Supreme Court on Thursday about the arrest of Shoaib Sheikh, the chief executive officer of Axact.

The FIA director general told the apex court that the investigation agency had arrested Shoaib Sheikh in Islamabad over the fake degree scam case.

The district and sessions judge of Islamabad had convicted Axact CEO Shoaib Sheikh, as well as 24 others in the fake degrees case on July 6, awarding them 20 years’ imprisonment.

But instead of surrendering before the court, Shoaib Sheikh absconded, while the FIA did not make effort for his arrest.

Sources said the FIA had arrested him on Tuesday as the Supreme Court was supposed to resume hearing in the matter on Thursday.

Mr Sheikh and his associates were booked on June 7, 2015, under sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 473, 109/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and section 4 of the Anti-money Laundering Act of 2010.

Since the convicts have been awarded jail terms ranging from three to seven years, they will undergo a maximum of seven years in prison.

The Federal Investigation Agency had registered a case 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.

During the hearing, a lawyer of the Axact company told the apex court that the management of BOL TV, a subsidiary of Axact, had deposited Rs50 million with the district judiciary.

The amount will be distributed among the employees to clear their outstanding salaries, according to the lawyer.

The FIA chief informed the court about progress in the cases against the Axact company pending before the district judiciary in Sindh.

Published in Dawn, September 28th, 2018