KARACHI: The central character in the fake degree scandal, Axact CEO Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh appeared before the Federal Investigation Agency’s Corporate Crime Circle on Tuesday for interrogation where he has been taken under custody after long interrogation, Geo News reported.
Director FIA Sindh Shahid Hayat was interrogating Shaikh, who appeared before him along with four other Axact senior employees including the heads of the company’s Accounts and Human Resource departments.
FIA Deputy Directors Ashfaque Alam and Kamran Ataullah were also present during the questioning.
The Axact CEO, who is being probed for an alleged massive scam selling fake academic degrees online, said he had brought with him financial documents as requested by the FIA.
According to sources, Shaikh has been unable to provide a list of expenses, as asked by the FIA investigators. Sources said that the FIA has sought from Axact No-Objection Certificates (NOC) of educational institutes, documents pertaining to affiliation with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and documents related to revenues from fees earned.
Earlier Shoaib Shaikh was grilled for a straight six hours on Monday and was called again on Tuesday for questioning along with documents relating to his company’s finances.
FIA Director Shahid Hayat Khan told reporters on Monday that, in addition to Shaikh, other employees would also be interrogated today.
On Monday, Shaikh was questioned regarding the issuance of fake degrees and various bank accounts. According to Hayat, Shaikh had assured that he would produce documentation on Tuesday.
Sources told a private TV channel that the FIA has decided to lodge an FIR against Axact after emergence of ‘new irrefutable evidence’ against the IT Company in the ongoing probe of the fake degree scam. Sources said the FIR is likely to be lodged in next 48 hours. The FIR would be lodged against owners and high-level officials of the software company.
The Axact scandal came to light when the New York Times published an investigative report claiming that the Pakistani IT company had made millions of dollars selling fake degrees online.
Following the NYT story, Pakistan authorities were quick to act as Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan ordered the FIA to launch a probe into the fake degree scandal.
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