ISLAMABAD: The court of a local judicial magistrate on Friday remanded Bol News and Axact CEO Shoaib Sheikh in custody of the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for three days in a case of allegedly bribing a judge in the Axact degree case.
The FIA produced the accused before Judicial Magistrate Umar Shabbir and requested for his 10-day physical remand to carry out an investigation into the case. The FIA’s investigation officer argued before the court that the high court had ordered an inquiry against the accused, and during the investigation transaction of some amount in the account of the former judge was traced. However, the judge did not confess to taking any bribe, he added.
The accused said he had no connection with the transaction and he should have been given some time to join the investigation.
Whether the accused, who had transferred the said amount into the judge’s account, had been arrested, he asked.
Prosecutor Ishfaq Naqvi said that a total of 26 accused were nominated in the case and statement of the said former additional district and sessions judge was part of an appeal pending with the high court, he added.
Shoaib Sheikh had filed the appeal without going to jail, the prosecutor said. He stated that the former judge had confessed before the two high court judges to the bribe, and opposed the request of the defence seeking to discharge the accused from the case.
The counsel for accused, Latif Khosa Advocate said the inquiry was conducted in 2018 and the FIA was now thinking to file the case. A verbal statement could not be considered a confession, he said and prayed to the court to discharge his client from the case.
The court, however, granted three-day remand of the accused to the FIA.
Sheikh was arrested by FIA’s Anti-Corruption Circle on Thursday on charges of bribing a judge. According to the first information report (FIR), the Anti Corruption Circle Islamabad conducted an inquiry in response to a reference sent by the additional registrar of Islamabad High Court (IHC) on Feb 17, 2018.
After his arrest, the chief of the BOL television network was presented before the court where FIA’s investigation officer (IO) and prosecutor Ashfaq Naqvi were present. Sheikh’s lawyers Latif Khosa and Sher Afzal Marwat were also in attendance.
Against the FIA’s request for a 10-day physical remand, the court granted them three-day physical remand of Sheikh and issued directives for him to be produced before the court on March 13.
Judicial Magistrate Umar Shabbir remarked that the case was not an ordinary one because it had been lodged on the complaint of the IHC.
“We cannot dismiss the charges without investigation and the investigation officer must be given adequate time for the probe,” he said and instructed the police to conduct Sheikh’s medical examination.
