WASHINGTON:
US State Department has said that it has no agreement of document verification with Pakistani software company Axact, which is under investigation for running a global fake degree empire, according to local media sources.
“The Department of State has no agreement for documentation authentication with Axact,” an official of the US State Department said, adding that the department’s official website provides information on accredited educational institutions besides highlighting warnings about fake documentation.
Investigators of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Tuesday carried out raids on Axact offices in Karachi and Rawalpindi, confiscating computers and holding employees for questioning as the scandal deepened, according to authorities.
Axact was accused by the New York Times of running a network of hundreds of websites for phoney universities complete with paid actors for promotional videos, as part of an elaborate scheme that generated tens of millions of dollars annually, sources claim.
The raids came shortly after Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan told the agency to probe “if the said company is involved in any such illegal work which can tarnish the good image of the country in the world”.