Axact-gate scandal: Four more suspects remanded

Suspects linked with the production of fake and fictitious degrees, FIA contends

KARACHI:

A district and sessions court remanded on Wednesday four more suspects in Axact-gate scandal for one day.

The four – Muhammad Rizwan, Atif Hussain, Imran Ahmed Khan and Adnan Saboor – who were recently taken into custody after some leads given by the detained suspects were presented by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) before the South district judicial magistrate, Noor Muhammad Kalmati.

The FIA officials contended that the suspects were linked with the production of fake and fictitious degrees through which the company lured money from foreign students.

The investigators sought custody of the suspects on physical remand for interrogation, which the judge approved only for a day. They will be presented before the judge again on Thursday (today) along with the arrested Axact CEO, Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh.

Widening investigation

The Axact management is facing many charges for running a million-dollar education scam, fraud and money laundering.  The FIA officials said foreign bank accounts and offshore companies had been identified, and they were also being investigated.

There had been a lot of progress in investigation of the case, they said, adding that forensic teams were working round the clock and had recovered a lot of data pertaining to fake universities and degrees being awarded by them.

The investigators said, “But there is still a lot of data to be recovered and we will keep on doing it for a few more days till we have recovered all the data.”

The FIA spokesperson said financial transactions were another important dimension of investigation.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2015.