What an idea: Man held for stealing company’s data

Investment banking company claims five former employees stole source code

KARACHI: In a first-of-its-kind case, an entrepreneur has been arrested on charges of stealing data from his employer.

Darakhshan police on Monday arrested Baqar Abbas, after AMZ MAK Capital Limited filed a complaint stating that he and four of his colleagues stole their software data.

The company's spokesperson, Mujtaba Naqvi, alleged that Abbas and four others, Waqar Ahsan, Ahsan Irshad, Sennen DeSouza and Hammad Ali Hashim, were hired in 2013 and along with 16 other employees were given the task of developing an 'Investors Social Media Platform'.

Naqvi said Rs14 million was spent on the project and after the product was developed, the accused quit en masse taking the source code with them.

According to techarget.com, 'source code' and 'object code' refer to the "before" and "after" versions of a computer programme that is compiled before it is ready to run on a computer.



"The mastermind behind the fraud, Abbas, re-launched the same website a few months later, which was in fact the idea and property of AMZ MAK, by changing a few interfaces while keeping the exact same basic structure and source code," alleged Naqvi.

The company, after becoming aware of the fraud, approached the Sindh High Court and after establishing the facts before the judge, they were allowed to proceed further which resulted in a criminal case. An FIR under sections 381, 408, 403, 418, 483 and 34 of the Pakistan Penal Code was registered against the accused on court orders.

Naqvi hopes once the accused are punished, it will set a precedent with regard to safeguarding intellectual property rights of entrepreneurs in Pakistan and protect their work from such fraud.

Investigation officer sub-inspector Saleemullah Qureshi refused to share details of the case until the remand is completed, but said Baqar has informed them about the whereabouts of his accomplices and soon they will also be apprehended.

Sticking together

According to Jehan Ara, president of Pakistan Software House Association, the entrepreneurs developed their company in her presence. She said before assuming their guilt, one must investigate exactly what happened.

"I believe the accusation will be proven wrong and I extend my full support to them," she said, claiming that all the content used by the 'investors' platform' is licensed.

Farieha Aziz, director of digital rights organisation Bolo Bhi, told The Express Tribune it is a very technical case and we should see how the matter proceeds in court.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 2^nd, 2016.