ISLAMABAD: The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Tuesday issued bailable arrest warrants for Axact Chief Executive Officer Shoaib Sheikh and co-accused Nigel Brain over their absence from the hearing of the appeal filed against their conviction in a fake degree case.

In July 2018, the Islamabad district and sessions judge had convicted Shoaib Sheikh and 22 others in the fake degree case and awarded them 20-year imprisonment under different charges.

The judge had also imposed a fine of Rs1.3 million on each of the convicts.

Shoaib Sheikh and Nigel Brain had challenged the conviction in the Islamabad High Court.

In October 2018, the IHC had suspended the sentence against Sheikh against Rs0.5 million surety bonds.

Shoaib Sheikh and the others had been nominated in a First Information Report registered on June 7, 2015 under Sections 419, 420, 468, 471, 473 and 109/34 of the Pakistan Penal Code and Section 4 of the Anti-Money Laundering Act 2010.

When the IHC resumed hearing on Tuesday, Sheikh and Brain were not present in the court.

IHC Chief Justice Athar Minallah issued bailable warrants for both accused and summoned them on August 30.

Published in Dawn, July 23rd, 2021