巴基斯坦假文憑公司CEO被捕
KARACHI, Pakistan — Pakistani investigators arrested the chief executive of Axact, a software company accused of running a global diploma mill, early Wednesday after discovering a storage room filled with blank fake degrees.
The chief executive, Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh, and four other Axact executives were initially charged with fraud, forgery and illegal electronic money transfers, law enforcement officials said. The charges were later expanded to include money laundering and violating Pakistan’s electronic crimes act.
The arrests were a sharp blow to a company that claimed to be Pakistan’s biggest software exporter and that was on the cusp of starting a major television network. Axact has been under investigation since May 19, after an article in The New York Times described how the company had made millions of dollars by running hundreds of fake online education websites.
Since then, federal investigators have sealed Axact offices in Karachi and Islamabad and requested help from Interpol and the F.B.I. Mr. Shaikh sought to defend himself in a series of television interviews and video appeals, and he asked the courts to halt the investigation.
But his legal move proved unsuccessful, and late Tuesday, after hours of questioning, he led investigators to a building next to the Axact headquarters in the upscale Karachi neighborhood of Defence.
Inside, they found a room filled with blank certificates bearing the letterheads of dozens of fake universities and high schools operated by Axact under names like Bay View, Cambell State, Oxdell and Nixon.
“There were hundreds of thousands of documents there,” said Shahid Hayat, head of the local office of the Federal Investigation Agency, which is leading the inquiry.
Pakistani television networks broadcast images of the room, and of Mr. Shaikh, wearing a black polo shirt with the Axact logo, being led to a car waiting outside the office. As he got into the car, he could be heard telling officials of the investigation agency that he would “see to every one of them.”
Mr. Hayat, the investigator, expressed surprise at the remark. “I don’t think he can threaten us,” he said.
Mr. Shaikh appeared in court later on Wednesday. A judge granted the Federal Investigation Agency custody of Mr. Shaikh and the four other executives until June 4. Investigators had said earlier that they would seek to extend his detention by 14 days while they examined the Axact network, which spans a number of countries and includes several offshore companies.
Axact’s online activities appear to have effectively shut down. Attempts by a reporter to contact sales agents at 221 of the company’s websites in recent days produced no response. Several of the fake accreditation bodies set up by the company, in a bid to bestow legitimacy on the universities, have gone offline.
Pakistan has requested F.B.I. assistance because many of the universities run by Axact purported to be based in the United States, operated bank accounts and mailboxes there and sold fake degrees to Americans. Axact sales agents also sold State Department authentication certificates bearing Secretary of State John Kerry’s signature.
Experts say that fake degrees can pose dangers to public safety and national security in many parts of the world and can enable immigration fraud. They can also have serious consequences for customers who are caught using them.
Two former Axact officials, speaking separately, said that in 2009, an American married couple, both members of the United States military serving in Iraq, emailed Axact to say that they faced courts-martial for having presented academic credentials bought from a university run by Axact.
The couple requested an accreditation certificate from the university to help defend themselves, said Ahmed, a former sales agent who asked that his last name not be used. An Axact manager instructed subordinates to block the couple’s calls, he said.
Mr. Shaikh has vehemently denied any wrongdoing but admitted some involvement in the online degree business. In his last video message before his arrest, he said Axact provided telephone support and what he termed “document management services” for other companies. He did not identify those companies.
The scandal has cast a cloud over Bol, the Axact television and newspaper group that had planned to begin broadcasting in June. On Saturday, the network’s editor in chief and several leading journalists resigned, after Pakistan’s interior minister spoke of “substantive” evidence against Axact.
巴基斯坦卡拉奇——巴基斯坦的查詢拜訪職員於周三早些時刻在軟件公司Axact發明了一個裝滿空缺假學位證書的蘊藏室後，控告該公司運行一個環球性的文憑捏造工場，拘捕了公司的首席履行官。
法律職員表現，首席履行官沙耶布·艾哈邁徳·謝赫(Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh)及其他四名Axact高管最初被控告犯有訛詐、捏造和不法電子資金轉移罪。他們被控告的罪名厥後增加了洗錢、和違背巴基斯坦的電子犯法法。
這些人被拘捕是對這個自稱為巴基斯坦最大軟件出口商的公司的猛烈襲擊，該公司正盤算啟動一個重要的電視收集。自從5月19日《紐約時報》揭櫫一篇文章，描寫了該公司若何經由過程運作幾百個假的在線教導網站賺取了數百萬美元以後，Axact公司遭到查詢拜訪。
從當時起，聯邦查詢拜訪職員查封了Axact在卡拉奇和伊斯蘭堡的辦公室，並向國際刑警和美國聯邦查詢拜訪局追求贊助。謝赫曾試圖在一系列電視采訪和視頻號令中為本身辯解，他還請求法庭停滯查詢拜訪。
但他所采用的司法辦法沒有勝利，周二晚，在接收了幾個小時的詢問以後，他把查詢拜訪職員帶到設在國防部鄰近的卡拉奇高級社區的Axact總部大樓。
在大樓裏，查詢拜訪職員發明了一個房間，內裏裝滿了帶有Axact謀劃的假大學和假高中名字的空缺文憑，黌舍名稱包含灣景(Bay View)、堪布貝爾州立(Cambell State)、歐克斯貝爾(Oxdell)，和尼克松(Nixon)。
“在那邊找到了不計其數的證書，”引導這次查詢拜訪的聯邦查詢拜訪機構本地做事處的賣力人沙希德·哈亞特(Shahid Hayat)說。
巴基斯坦電視台網播放了該房間和身穿帶有Axact標記的玄色馬球衫的謝赫的圖片，他被帶進一輛期待在辦公樓外的車子。當他上車時，可以聽到他對該查詢拜訪機構的官員說，他會“留心他們每小我”。
查詢拜訪員哈亞特對上述談吐表現驚訝。他說，“我認為他弗成能威逼咱們。”
謝赫隨後在周三出如今法庭上。法官同意了聯邦查詢拜訪機構將謝赫及其他四名高管拘留到6月4日。查詢拜訪職員早些時刻曾表現，在他們檢討Axact收集的同時，他們將追求將拘留期延伸14天，該公司的收集超過多個國度，還包含幾個離岸公司。
Axact的網上運動仿佛已根本上停滯。記者比來幾天曾試圖接洽該公司221個網站的發賣署理，但無人相應。該公司為給這些大學付與正當性而設立的幾家假判定機構也已下線。
巴基斯坦已請求美國聯邦查詢拜訪局供給贊助，由於很多Axact運作的大學號稱設在美國，在美國有銀行帳戶和郵箱，並向美國人出售假文憑。 Axact的發賣署理還出售帶有美國國務卿約翰·克裏(John Kerry)署名的認證證書。
專家們說，假學位會給天下很多處所的大眾平安和國度平安造成傷害，可為移民訛詐制作方便，也會給被發明應用它們的客戶帶來緊張效果。
Axact的兩名前高管曾在2009年分離表現，作為美國軍方職員並同在伊拉戰勝役的一對美國伉儷給Axact發電子郵件稱，他們因供給從Axact運作的一所大學買來的學歷證實而面對軍事法庭審訊。
據前發賣署理艾哈邁德(Ahmed)說——他請求記者不給出他的姓——這對伉儷為在法庭上贊助本身辯解，要求該大學提招供證證書。艾哈邁德說，Axact的一位司理曾指導部屬屏障這對伉儷打來的手機。
謝赫一向死力否定有任何欠妥行動，但認可介入了網上學位買賣。在被捕以前制造的末了視頻信息中，他說，Axact為其他公司供給手機支撐、和他稱之為“文件治理辦事”的營業。他沒有泄漏這些公司的名字。
這一醜聞已讓Bol蒙上暗影，Bol是Axact的電視和報業團體，曾籌劃在六月開端運營。上周六，在巴基斯坦內政部長提到針對Axact的“大批證據”後，該媒體收集的主編和幾位著名記者告退。
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