Shoaib Sheikh's remand extended in bribery case

The FIA arrested Sheikh on March 9 for allegedly giving bribe to a judge for his acquittal.

ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - An Islamabad district and sessions judge has extended the physical remand of Shoaib Sheikh, chief executive of Axact, in a case of allegedly bribing a judge for acquittal in the fake degrees’ scam. 

The FIA arrested Shoaib Sheikh on March 9 for allegedly giving Rs1.5 million bribe to an additional district and sessions judge. It had sought six-day physical remand after the expiry of his three-day remand. 

The special prosecutor of FIA said the accused had confessed that he bribed a judge and the investigation officer was required to obtain bank record. The judge extended Sheikh’s remand for two more days. 

Meanwhile, Sheikh’s counsel told the judge that his client was suffering from multiple health issues and sought the court’s order to shift him to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (PIMS). However, the judge turned down the request.

According to an FIA spokesperson, the Axact CEO had bribed judge Pervaizul Qadir Memon for his acquittal in the case registered against him in Islamabad’s Cybercrime Circle. He said the agency had started investigating Sheikh following his arrest. The judge, too, was nominated in the case, he added.

The Axact chief was summoned on Feb 15, 2023, in connection with the case, however, he did not appear before the probe team.

The judge had acquitted Sheikh, CEO of Axact, the company that made billions of dollars by selling fake degrees worldwide, and others in fake degrees scam on Oct 31, 2016. Later, the judge was sacked on Feb 15, 2018, by the Islamabad High Court (IHC) as he confessed before a departmental promotion committee that he had received bribe.

An IHC division bench in April 2018 had set aside the Oct 31, 2016 acquittal order passed by Memon. 

A case was registered by the FIA against Sheikh under the Pakistan Penal Code and the Anti-Bribery Act on the request of the IHC registrar.