| Good lord, is this case still going on? |
[DAWN] The Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Wednesday overturned the acquittal of Axact chief executive officer Shoaib Sheikh and other officials of the company in the fake degrees case by a sessions court.A two-member bench of the court comprising Justice Athar Minallah and Justice Miangul Hassan Aurangzeb announced the verdict on an appeal of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) against the acquittal.
Ordering a retrial of the case, the IHC ordered the sessions judge Islamabad (West) to decide the matter after hearing all the arguments afresh.
See: The spectacular crash of Shoaib Sheikh's digital empire
However,
if you can't say something nice about a person some juicy gossip will go well...
the court extended some relief to the accused by leaving open the option for them to submit new surety bonds to secure bail and avoid arrest.
During a hearing of the appeal last month, a law officer of the federal government had requested the IHC to order retrial of the Axact CEO and other officials of his IT company because they had been acquitted by a district and sessions judge after receiving a bribe.
Deputy Attorney General Raja Khalid Mehmood Khan had said that despite admission of additional district and sessions judge (ADSJ) Pervaizul Qadir Memon that he had taken a bribe for issuing a favourable verdict, the judgement was still intact.
Besides Axact, Sheikh also owns Bol TV network.
ADSJ Memon had acquitted Sheikh and others in the fake degrees case on October 31, 2016. Later the judge was sacked on February 15, 2018 due to his admission of receiving Rs5 million bribe for acquitting the accused.
Axact first came into the limelight in 2015 when a New York Times
...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...
report titled "Fake Diplomas, Real Cash: Pak Company Axact Reaps Millions" outlined how the "secretive Pak software company" had allegedly earned millions of dollars from scams involving fake degrees, non-existent online universities and manipulation of customers.