A judicial magistrate of Islamabad has granted the FIA a three-day physical remand of Axact CEO Shoaib Shaikh, a day after his arrest from Islamabad airport.
Shaikh, who is also the co-chairman of BOL News, faces charges of bribing a former judge to arrange for his acquittal in the fake degrees case.
According to BOL News, he had arrived in the federal capital for a court hearing, but was ‘picked up’ by unidentified men.
During the hearing, the investigation officer apprised the court that the probe was ordered by the high court, adding that a total of 26 accused were named in the case.
On the other hand, the accused maintains that he had nothing to do with the transaction and should’ve been given some time to join the probe.
The officer also said that the former judge confessed to receiving the bribe before two high court judges.
According to the report filed against Shaikh, the ADSJ had admitted to the Islamabad High Court that he received Rs5 million to acquit Shaikh.
Subsequently, IHC terminated Memon from service and directed FIA to probe the ‘individual who bribed Memon’.
The FIA has since then summoned Shaikh multiple times in connection with the aforesaid bribery case.
Axact scam
The FIA had first arrest Shaikh in 2015 after it found thousands of forged degrees from a secret office of the company in Karachi.
A New York Times report had revealed that Axact was running a multimillion-dollar fake diploma empire from the said office.
TV footages at the time showed piles of degrees at the secret office, which the staff would send out for wrongful use, free of inquiry and fear of getting caught.
Subsequently, a money laundering case was filed against Shaikh and Axact management, but the CEO was later acquitted by the now-disgraced judge Pervez-ul-Qadir Memon.
