August 24 , 2016
News
Axact’s chief acquitted in money laundering case
KARACHI: A district and sessions court on Wednesday acquitted Axact CEO Shoaib Shaikh in a money laundering case due to lack of evidence.
The defence moved an application under section 265-k of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP) before the South District’s additional sessions judge. The application sought acquittal of the accused since the prosecution failed to bring any evidence supporting their claim on record, Imdad Ali Saheto – Shaikh’s attorey – said.
The case is the first one in which the charges have been dropped. Earlier this month, the Sindh High Court granted bail to Shaikh in the same case. According to reports, Justice Muhammad Iqbal Kalhoro also granted bail to the 14 other co-accused nominated by Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) in the fake degree scam.
Shaikh – along with six directors of the company – was taken in custody on May 27, 2015 after investigators found hundreds of thousands of forged degrees and students identification cards from a secret office of the company in Karachi. In June last year, a district sessions court in Karachi sent Shaikh and eight others on a two-day judicial remand in the fake degree case.
During the hearing, FIA investigators contended before the court that ‘concrete’ evidence was discovered against the accused during their investigation. “Abdul Rauf – owner of a printing press – who was hired by Axact’s management to publish fake degrees, has been traced and been included in the witnesses list,” an investigation officer told the court.
The officer upheld that the statements of three witnesses will be recorded during the next hearing. The FIA team also submitted the medical treatment report of the accused as the judge had asked for it during the previous hearing. The investigators said that the data seized from the company’s computers were being decoded and the findings would be available soon.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk