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‘Axact fraud empire bigger than initially imagined’
 [DAWN] New York Times investigative journalist Declan Walsh – whose report last year unveiled a “secretive Pakistani software company” that allegedly earned millions of dollars from scams involving fake degrees, non-existent online universities and manipulation of customers – has detailed in a new report published Monday fresh details about the case surrounding Axact.
New details on the case, disclosed in the report, purport that the scandal is “bigger than initially imagined”.
- Axact allegedly took money from at least 215,000 people in 197 countries.
- CEO Shoaib Shaikh found to be owner of several shell companies in the US and other Caribbean countries that were used to channel funds to Pakistan.
- Shaikh used a pseudonym on documentation linked to offshore companies.
- Shaikh became a citizen of St. Kitts and Nevis, a small Caribbean island that sells passports to rich investors.
- Axact sales agents employees used "threats and false promises" and impersonated government officials to rake money from customers, mostly in the Middle East.
- The company earned at least $89 million in its final year of operation through illicit operations.
Axact CEO Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh, managers Viqas Atique, Zeeshan Anwar, Mohammad Sabir and Zeeshan Ahmed and 14 other officials/employees of software firm Axact were booked in May last year for allegedly preparing and selling fake degrees, diplomas and accreditation certificates of fictitious schools/universities through a fraudulent online system and illegally minting “hundreds of millions of dollars".
The Federal Investigation Agency filed a final charge-sheet in the case last month, but the accused await trial.
Posted by: Fred 2016-04-12 |
