Axact’s Shoaib Sheikh escapes indictment once again

Axact CEO Shoaib Shaikh continues to hide behind excuses to evade indictment. Once again on Saturday, he failed to appear before the additional sessions judge (South) claiming threats to life and ill-health.

Shaikh was due to appear before additional sessions judge (south) in a multi-million rupee money-laundering case. 

However, a jail inspector said the Axact CEO couldn’t appear owing to ill-health.

The court adjourned the hearing till March 17 and demanded that Shaikh be present for the next hearing.

During the hearing, SHO City Court contended that Shaikh did not face any security risks. “Policemen in civvies have also been deployed at the court to ensure security,” he told.

The court also expressed anger over Shaikh's counsel's request to delay the hearing. "Are you suggesting I overlook the High Court and Supreme Court's demands?" the judge questioned.

Shaikh was arrested on February 26 after the Sindh High Court (SHC) rejected his protective bail application, which was submitted after the court approved the Federal Investigation Agency's (FIA) appeal against the acquittal of those accused in the Axact money laundering case.

The Axact scandal surfaced in May 2015, when The New York Times published a report had claimed the company sold fake diplomas and degrees online through hundreds of fictitious schools, making “tens of millions of dollars annually”.

The FIA had then filed a plea against the acquittal of Shaikh in 2016 in a money laundering case, arguing that he was exonerated from the charges by the trial court despite strong evidence that proved his involvement in money laundering.

According to the FIA, Shaikh is involved in an illegal transfer of Rs170.17 million to a Dubai-based firm, Chanda Exchange Company, in April 2014.