KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC), on the appeal of Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against acquittal of Axact fake degrees scam suspects by a lower court, has once again summoned Axact Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and owner of Bol Network Shoaib Sheikh along with other accused on February 21 after the suspects remained absent from the court proceedings on Thursday.
Justice Naimatullah Phulpoto inquired why Sheikh was not present in court despite an earlier summons. Sheikh’s counsel Imdad Advocate informed the bench that his client is unwell.
Expressing displeasure, the court ordered the counsel to present his client’s medical certificate in court at the next hearing and also summoned Sheikh at the next hearing on Feb 21.
Earlier the Supreme Court (SC) on February 9, directed the high courts in Sindh and Islamabad to promptly decide the pending cases regarding the Axact fake degree scandal, as it rescinded its order to put the names of all the accused on the Exit Control List (ECL).
The court ordered Shaikh,, to submit a written reply in the case and hand over his passport to the Sindh High Court. The bench took back its order to place names of the accused on ECL on the request of senior journalists, including Sami Ibrahim and Javed Soomro, and directed Shaikh to submit a written guarantee that he would not leave the country.
Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar conducted a hearing of the suo motu notice of the Axact scam. He maintained that Pakistan’s reputation is at stake but the investigation in the case is quite weak and frail.