FIA inquiry: Govt to enlist help of FBI, Interpol

Minister says substantive evidence found against Axact

ISLAMABAD:

The government has decided to enlist the help of America’s Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Interpol in investigating the multimillion-dollar fake degrees scam run worldwide by Pakistani software company Axact.

Speaking at a news conference on Saturday, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said they have found ‘substantive evidence’ on the ‘illegal operations’ of Axact and that the government would soon contact FBI and Interpol. “In light of the developments that have come through in the FIA inquiry, we have decided to write to the FBI within the next two days to ask for legal assistance,” he added.



Nisar said the interior ministry would contact Interpol for assistance, and also British authorities, if need be, for the universities that have been referred to in the case. He promised transparency in the probe, saying the FIA inquiry was progressing well. He added that previous governments should be asked about launching of the company.

Sharing details of the investigations with the media, the minister said the FIA had so far briefed the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan, Federal Board of Revenue, Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and Pakistan Software Houses Association regarding the developments. “Preliminary inquiry will be completed within the next seven to 10 days and after that we will decide the next step and whether an FIR should be registered,” he added.

Assuring the media of a fair and transparent investigation in the Axact scandal, the minister said: “We will not succumb to any pressure.”



He admitted that he had directed the FIA to inquire into the company’s operations following a report published in the New York Times. “The interior ministry is only concerned with the case because it was published in an international newspaper. So I decided we had to take action,” he said.

“As this is a sensitive case we are trying to complete investigations in the minimum time required,” Nisar said, adding that the timeframe for completing investigations was 90 days. He urged the media not to give in to speculations and not quote FIA sources in reports as it was an investigative body.

The minister said some of the accounts of Axact were being verified and some of them had been seized. Flow of millions of dollars of transactions of Axact was still to be determined and it was to be seen whether any money laundering was committed, he added.

The minister pointed out that most of the degrees of Axact were given to people in the United States, Britain and the Middle East and no action was taken on the issue. In 2007, a case was decided in a UK court about a fake degree of criminologist but the UK authorities did not pursue it, he said, adding that a lot of people were coming forward to provide information about Axact.

He clarified that action would not be taken against employees of Axact and BOL television but only against those who were involved in an illegal act.

Election rigging

While talking about the judicial commission investigating claims of election rigging in the 2013 elections, the minister urged Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf  (PTI) chief Imran Khan not to make vague or controversial statements as  the case was pending before the tribunal.

He said the commission should be allowed to complete its task as both the government and the PTI had publicly committed to accepting its verdict, which showed their confidence in the judicial inquiry.

The PTI, Nisar added, went to the election tribunals against the results in 58 constituencies but only three of their petitions were accepted.

The minister said he stood by his statement made on the floor of the National Assembly more than a year back that 60,000 to 70,000 votes polled in the last elections could not be verified.

Unverified votes were not fake but unreadable, he said, adding it was his stance that this issue could only be decided by courts.


Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2015.