Islamabad- The Sindh High Court (SHC) on other day granted bail to Axact Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Shoaib Shaikh and 13 others in the fake degrees case.Mr.Justice Iqbal Kalhoro approved the bail plea against a surety bond of Rs500, 000 each after hearing arguments from both parties. All those granted bail in the case have been in custody for the past 15 months. For Axact, advocate Shaukat Hayat, argued during the hearing that the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and the prosecution had been employing delaying tactics, pointing out that the accused have not been indicted thus far – despite a lapse of 15 months. There is no headway in the case to legitimize his stance that the accused were entitled for bail, especially since his clients had no criminal record or allegations of involvement in terrorism, advocate Hayat claimed.The Axact scandal surfaced in May last year when The New York Times published a report that claimed the company sold fake diplomas and degrees online through hundreds of fictitious schools, making “tens of millions of dollars annually”. Subsequently the offices of Axact were sealed, its CEO and key officials were arrested and a probe was launched on the basis of the allegations leveled by NYT.A First Information Report (FIR) was registered against seven individuals including Axact director and CEO Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh as well as a UAE-based company, by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA). FIR (7/2015) was registered through Saeed Memon — the assistant director of FIA’s corporate crime circle — on behalf of the state. The individuals named in the FIR were subsequently arrested and remain in FIA remand. Later the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) arrested chief executive officer of Axact, Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh, on 26th May-2015 case of selling fake degrees, fraud, forgery and money laundering was registered against him. The company s Chief Operating Officer (COO)Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh was produced before the area Magistrate s court. On the other hand, Axact offices in Karachi were sealed. FIA team recovered millions of fake educational degrees during a raid on a building opposite to Axact office in Karachi and Rawalpindi. According to the details, FIA officials search the Axact’s office in the presence of the Magistrate and a great amount of evidence was collected. FIA officials claimed that millions of fake degrees and student cards were found during the search. Axact’s COO Waqas is the brother in law of CEO BOL Media group Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh.
