 |
|
Axact's
CEO Shoaib Sheikh (centre) has said there was a campaign against Bol
|
Pakistani investigators have
detained the head of a global internet technology firm suspected of an alleged
multi-million dollar fraud selling fake university degrees online.
Axact's
CEO Shoaib Sheikh and his deputy, Waqas Atiq, were taken into custody after a
raid at their Karachi offices on Tuesday night.
Officials
said hundreds of thousands of blank degree forms, student cards and
authentication documents were found.
Axact
has called the claims "baseless".
The
Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) chief for Sindh province, Shahid Hayat, told
media the agency had enough evidence to proceed against Mr Sheikh on charges of
fraud, forgery, money laundering and violation of electronic transactions law.
BBC report continues:
Mr
Sheikh was taken into custody 10 days after the International New York Times
published allegations that the software firm based in Karachi was running a
worldwide degree scam.
 |
|
Axact
offices have been raided by investigators
|
Raids
took place at Axact offices in Karachi and Islamabad. Equipment was
confiscated, records impounded and dozens of Axact employees were briefly
detained for questioning.
The
wider interest generated by the newspaper report in Pakistan is attributed to
the fact the company was going to launch a well-promoted, high-profile print
and electronic media group called Bol (Speak up), offering three to four times
the market salaries to journalists it had hired.
A
number of senior journalists who had been with Bol for several years, preparing
for the launch, have now resigned from their positions.
Axact
has strenuously denied the allegations against it.
On
its website, it said last
week: "Axact provides a comprehensive education management system that
benefits diverse bodies of students and caters to all types of educational
institutions - online and traditional.
"All
10 business units of Axact are completely legitimate, legal and committed to
enhancing the quality of IT services across the world."
It
has accused rival media groups to Bol of "campaigning" against it.
Mr Sheikh and Mr Atiq are
expected to be produced in court on either Wednesday or Thursday, depending on
how soon formal charges are drawn up.
No comments:
Post a Comment