Court denies bail request of Axact CEO Shoaib Shaikh

KARACHI: The bail application for Axact CEO Shoaib Shaikh was rejected on Thursday by the additional sessions judge (south) in a multi-million rupee money-laundering case. The verdict on Shaikh's appeal seeking bail was reserved by the court earlier in the day and delivered in the evening. According to the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) Shoaib Shaikh is involved in an illegal transfer of Rs170.17 million to a Dubai-based firm, Chanda Exchange Company, in April 2014. The defendant was presented before the court earlier today by officials of FIA. The court then adjourned the hearing of Shaikh's request to grant bail till March 1. Shaikh was arrested on Monday evening after the Sindh High Court (SHC) rejected his protective bail application, which was submitted after the court approved the FIA's appeal against the acquittal of those accused in the Axact money laundering case. The case The Axact scandal surfaced in May 2015, when The New York Times published a report had claimed the company sold fake diplomas and degrees online through hundreds of fictitious schools, making ?tens of millions of dollars annually?. The FIA had then filed a plea against the acquittal of Shaikh in 2016 in a money laundering case, arguing that he was exonerated from the charges by the trial court despite strong evidence that proved his involvement in money laundering.