The Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) on Thursday arrested Axact chief executive officer (CEO) and owner of a private news channel Shoaib Sheikh in connection with a gratification case registered against him and an ex-additional district and sessions judge of Islamabad.
The FIR was lodged at FIA Anti-Corruption Circle on Wednesday under charges 161, 165-A, and 109 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) along with the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1947 section 5(2).
According to the first information report, the Anti Corruption Circle Islamabad conducted an inquiry in response of a reference sent by additional registrar of Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Feb 17, 2018.
It was transpired during inquiry that ex-additional district and sessions judge Pervaiz-ul-Qadir Memon had admittedly received illegal gratification amounting to Rs5 million for the acquittal of the Axact CEO Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh in a case titled ‘The state vs Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh’.
Per the FIR, this prima facie constitutes offences of misuse of authority for illegal personal gains and criminal miscount, hence, after approval from competent authority, a case is registered against Pervaiz-ul-Qadir Memon on charges of taking illegal gratification for acquitting Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh through judgment and CEO Axact Shoaib Ahmed Sheikh for being beneficiary of the transaction.
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An FIA spokesperson said the agency had started investigating Shaikh following his arrest. The judge, too, was nominated in the case against Shaikh.
On February 2023, the FIA summoned the Axact chief in connection with the bribe case. Shaikh, however, didn't appear before the probe team.