Islamabad office: 17 Axact employees sent on seven-day physical remand

Suspects’ counsel claims they had no connection in decision making process

ISLAMABAD: A district and sessions court on Monday handed over 17 Axact employees here on physical remand over their alleged involvement in fraudulent practices, issuing fake degrees, money laundering and deceiving the public by acting as student counsellors.

Civil judge Islamabad Rasool Bakhsh sent the suspects on physical remand for seven days after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) presented them before the court.

The FIA had arrested 17 officials of the company and registered a case against Axact’s CEO Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh, his wife Ayesha Shaikh, regional directors, managers and operators on charges of issuing fake degrees, doing fraud and money laundering on June 7.

The suspects include Assistant Vice-President Sales Qasim bin Masood, Assistant Vice-President Haider Farooq, senior architects Sajjad Haider, Rizwan Shah, Aafeeq Ahmed, Ibadat Zaki and Izhar Tanveer.

The FIA investigation officer, Ali Gohar, said the suspects represented fake local and international educational institutions and were allegedly involved in issuing fake degrees, adding that they were also accused of money-laundering.

The official said that the suspects would transfer money through some offshore bank accounts and foreign companies, adding that the company was allegedly involved in fraud at both national and international levels.

Axact faced tough criticism after The New York Times said it was earning millions of dollars through the sale of  bogus degrees around the world.

The suspects’ counsel, Saad Hassan, said that they had no connection with the process of decision making. He added that only the poor employees were being arrested while the high-ups were released on bail.

The counsel also alleged that the suspects were being forced to become approvers in the case.

Following the proceedings, the court adjourned the case till June 15.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 9^th, 2015.