Court denies bail request of Axact CEO Shoaib Shaikh

KARACHI: An additional sessions judge (south) rejected Axact CEO, Shoaib Shaikh’s bail application in a multi-million rupee money-laundering case after. The verdict on the case was delivered in the evening after being reserved earlier in the day.

The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) reports that Shoaib Shaikh illegally transferred Rs 170.17 million to a Dubai-based firm, Chanda Exchange Company, in April 2014. The accused was arrested on Monday evening following the Sindh High Court’s (SHC) rejection of his protective bail application, which was submitted after the approval of FIA’s appeal against the acquittal of anybody embroiled in the Axact money laundering case.

In May 2015, The New York Times published a report that revealed that the Axact company had sold fake diplomas and degrees online through hundreds of fictitious schools, making ‘tens of millions of dollars annually’.

Soon afterwards, the FIA filed a plea against Shaikh’s acquittal in 2016, arguing that he was cleared of the charges by the trial court despite concrete evidence proving his involvement in money laundering.