Pakistan

Fake degrees scandal: FIA impounds 912 Axact-owned vehicles

FIA obtains permission from Sindh home ministry to move Axact CEO Shoaib Shaikh to Islamabad

Our Correspondent June 14, 2015

PHOTO: FORBES/ FILE

KARACHI: The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Sunday seized some 912 cars and motorcycles owned by the controversial IT firm Axact and directed the Excise and Taxation Department not to transfer ownership of any of the vehicles until further orders.

According to sources, the agency dispatched a letter containing a list of the vehicles – which include some 700 cars, ranging from luxury Mercedes models to the more economic Suzuki Mehran – to the Excise and Taxation department along with instructions to keep files on these vehicles closed until further orders.

They added that the fate of these vehicles is expected to be decided next week.

Preparations to move the head of controversial IT firm Axact are in the final stages, according to sources.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) has obtained permission from the Sindh home ministry to move Shoaib Shaikh, chief executive officer of the tech company which was allegedly running a highly-profitable diploma mills operation, sources said. They added that Shaikh will be moved to the federal capital – where cases against him, his wife and several Axact employees will be heard – in a couple of days.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 15^th, 2015.

COMMENTS (15)

London Banker | 9 years ago | Reply Friends its PMLN.. Don't take me wrong! I kept the post realistic.

Sandip | 9 years ago | Reply @London Banker: How about returning all that money to those who have been scammed by this crook and his cronies over the years?

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saeed | 9 years ago | Reply @London Banker: Good think you mentioned punjab, God forbid they dare open any hospital in sindh or baluchistan..

Azmat Ali | 9 years ago | Reply It is amply evident, from the many comments that I have read in the papers, that the Pakistani nation has reached rock bottom and has already started to dig. (read this somewhere and thought it fits the people perfectly.) Constantly agonizing and protesting over the fact ONLY our thieves and thugs are caught, while the "others" are allowed to operate!!! What kind of insane logic is that? How can a person from today's world think that way? And especially, those of us who proclaim themselves proudly to belong to the religion of Muhammad (PBUH), rant out such ridiculously? Evil must be routed wherever found. What Axact was doing, (i.e. cheating people out of their hard earned monies, cheating employers by providing inaccurate / incorrect credentials, cheating people by inferring that the universities they are dealing with are legit, helping store, distribute and collect from porn) was illegal, immoral and against basic human tenets of decency, morality, honesty. Who in the right mind could protest them being dragged down. I have yet to hear from anyone that Axact was NOT doing those activities. They are simply claiming that (a) others are also doing it, (b) they weren't stealing from Pakistanis, but other people of the world, (c) what they were doing was not illegal in the US, (d) this was small theft compared to what others are doing i.e. terrorism, stealing from the govt. coffers, etc. What all of them are saying is that AXACT was not a big enough thug to be brought to justice and should have been left alone to operate until the bigger fish were caught and brought to book. Beyond ridiculous. We must measure ourselves, individually as Pakistanis and Muslims, to a moral standard higher than all those around us. Instead, we, as a nation, both individuals and institutions alike, continue to provide justifications for their nefarious acts by pointing to bigger and badder evils around them. Only when we give up this way of thinking, can we progress.

Kokab | 9 years ago | Reply @Ashraf: Axact is NOT the only Company in Pakistan running Fake Degree empire and Porn-Business. There are many other companies in Karachi and Lahore running the same Business under the umbrella of corrupt influential politicians. A big Operation needs to be planned immediately against this Mafia and the black sheeps involved must be removed from government departments, national & provincial assemblies and parliaments.

A-No.1 | 9 years ago | Reply @London Banker: Why only in Punjab? Can you think of other poorer provinces also.

max | 9 years ago | Reply Dear All, shoaib sheikh's and Axact's crime is not that he is running fake degree scam, his crime is that scam is against US citizens. Otherwise if Pakistanis were the victims FIA would have been napping. We do not expect any good from daclan walsh or NY times so if they are breaking the story it must have some reasons ???????????????????? Walsh never broke story about billion of dollars of corrupt Pakistanis which are in American/western banks????????????

Amna Billoo | 9 years ago | Reply Why? Until the court reaches a decision, FIA has no right to harass the employees. So now FIA is just a mafia party that can do whatever it wants, wherever it wants? They couldn't even submit a full chalan in court and all they can do is impound vehicles and computers and send out fake baseless accusations?

Gohar | 9 years ago | Reply Why is the FIA running after Axact like a hungry dog? Where on earth was the whole of administration slumbering while Mr. Sheikh and comrades were busying building the boastful Axact's empire? Now, Pakistan is no more than a banana republic. OBL was nabbed, killed and drowned in an operation during which Pakistan was napping and Axact had brought in billions in cash billions in equipment and every other responsible department was rotting under the corrupt elements at the helm of GoP. Such expedited operations must be taken against each and every corrupt element in the country. It would never happen because FIA and all related agencies are promiscuous roughly used by each successive govt.

London Banker | 9 years ago | Reply Please auction all these cars transparently and then use the proceeds to build a new hospital in some poor area of Punjab. 900 * 0.5 million average car price = 450million. 200 million for the hospital and invest the other 250 million and use the interest / return to cover the hospital's running expenses.

Pring | 9 years ago | Reply Whether Axact was involved in fake degree/porn business or not, the situation would have been different and Shoaib Sheikh could have been a free man today after paying billions in bribe IF Axact didn't start BOL. It's because of BOL that Ch. Nisar couldn't say NO to his masters i.e. Mian Amir and Mir khaliq ur Rehman. Shoaib Sheikh was a fool to go for head-to-head competition with the untouchables of this country.

Ali | 9 years ago | Reply @Ashraf: Just the kinna agencies that are behind Google or Microsoft or Facebook (just to name a few) you are eluding to? Pakistan is a client state and thats the most unfortunate reality.

Fawad Gilani | 9 years ago | Reply My Car, My Car, Please dont take my Mercedes away!

SuperNeo | 9 years ago | Reply 900 vehicles are good number. Now Pakistan doesn't require donated buses from Turkey.

Ashraf | 9 years ago | Reply The gates are closing for the Pakistani Bill Gates. Amazing how he ran his racket for so long! Must have had some powerful agency people behind him.

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