fbpx
18.2 C
Islamabad
Friday, March 29, 2024

BOL TV’s CEO Shoaib Shaikh Detained By the FIA in Islamabad

Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh, the CEO of Axact and BOL TV, was detained by the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) at the Islamabad airport on suspicion of paying a former session judge a bribe in exchange for the judge’s decision to clear him in the case involving a fraudulent degree.

After he arrived in Islamabad from Karachi on an aircraft, Shoaib Shaikh was promptly detained. In order to influence the outcome of the Axact phony degree case, the top executive of BOL TV is accused of paying off Additional District and Session Judge (ADSJ) Pervez-ul-Qadir Memon. ADSJ acknowledged in 2017 in front of the Islamabad High Court that he had been paid Rs. 5 million to clear the Axact CEO.

Once Memon admitted to collecting the illicit bribe in order to clear Shaikh, IHC fired him from his position. The FIA was mandated by the court to look into the Memon-briber. Since then, the FIA has repeatedly called Shoaib Shaikh in order to interview him as part of their investigation into the bribery case.

According to FIA representatives who spoke to The Express Tribune, the agency’s Anti-Corruption Circle in Islamabad opened an investigation into the situation after receiving a reference from the IHC in February 2018. The Express Tribune has a copy of the First Information Report (FIR) that was filed against Shaikh for “being a beneficiary of the said transaction [providing Rs 5m in bribe] under u/s 161, 165-1, 109 PPC and 5(2) PCA 1947,” they said.

The Axact CEO was previously detained by the FIA in 2015 after agents discovered hundreds of thousands of fake diplomas and student IDs coming from a hidden office of the firm in Karachi. There were stacks of degree templates from various universities in the rooms of the property, as seen in a television video from the FIA raid on the Axact offices in Karachi in 2015.

Axact was reportedly operating a multimillion-dollar phony diploma business from a secret location, according to a New York Times story. Shaikh and the Axact management were also the targets of a multi-million dollar money laundering lawsuit, although the chief executive was eventually cleared by the now infamous judge Pervez-ul-Qadir Memon.

Latest news
- Advertisement -spot_img
Related news

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here