FIA prosecutor disassociates himself from Axact case

KARACHI: The Special Public Prosecutor of the Federal Investigation Agency, Zahid Jamil, on Monday disassociated himself from the proceedings of the bail applications of directors of M/s Axact  pending at the Sindh High Court.

The bail application of Axact directors Rizwan Ahmed, Imran Ahmed Khan, Atif Hussain, Adnan Saboor and others were pending before the SHC.  They have moved the SHC against the rejection of their bails from the sessions court in the Axact fake degree and money-laundering scam.

Barrister Zahid Jamil, who was appointed the Special Public Prosecutor by the FIA, submitted a statement before the court saying that due to “circumstances having arisen” he was unable to proceed further with such proceedings, and in the interests of preservation of “my professional conduct”, he excused himself from prosecuting or proceeding any further in these matters.

He submitted that he had been proceeding with all the related matters pro bono, and alternate arrangements for continuing arguments had been made. Therefore, he may be allowed to hand over materials for any further proceedings.

The SHC’s single bench, headed by Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput, after taking the statement of the SPP on record, directed the office to delete the name of the SPP from the prosecution side and adjourned the hearing till January 22.

The court directed the office not to treat the matter as part heard and fix the same as per the roster.  It is pertinent to mention here that Axact’s CEO Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh and other directors were booked by the FIA for their involvement in a fake degree scam and on money-laundering charges and the proceedings were pending before the trial court.—Originally published in The News