ISLAMABAD: On Monday, an Islamabad district and sessions judge prolonged the physical detention of Shoaib Sheikh, the CEO of software business Axact, in connection with an allegation that he paid a judge to clear him in the fake degree scandal.
Sheikh was detained by the FIA on March 9 after it was discovered that another district and sessions judge had reportedly received a bribe of Rs1.5 million. Following the end of his three-day remand, it had requested a six-day physical detention.
The accused admitted that he had bought a judge, according to the FIA’s special prosecutor, and the investigating officer was obliged to get bank records.
The judge added two more days to Sheikh’s remand based on this.
Sheikh’s attorney informed the judge that his client had a number of health difficulties and requested permission from the court to transfer him to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS). The judge, however, denied the request.
An FIA representative said that the Axact CEO had bought the judge’s dismissal of the case against him at Islamabad’s Cybercrime Circle.
He said that after Sheikh’s detention, the CIA had begun an investigation. He stated that the judge was also nominated in the matter.
The Axact chief was requested to come before the investigation team on February 15, 2023, but he did not.
On October 31, 2016, the judge had exonerated Sheikh, the CEO of Axact, the business that gained billions by peddling phoney degrees all over the world.
The judge was later dismissed by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) on February 15, 2018, after admitting to receiving bribes in front of a departmental promotion committee.
The acquittal order issued by Memon on October 31, 2016 was overturned by an IHC division bench in April 2018.
At the request of the IHC registrar, the FIA filed a case against Sheikh under the Anti-Bribery Act and the Pakistan Criminal Code.
