So its all over the news, Minister of Interior Ch Nisar has constituted an FIA task team to investigate the NY Times report and the allegations on Axact, following which, Axact offices in Islamabad and Karachi have been raided. Good for starters, but my hunch is – its a media defusing tactic
Media Coverup?
Had if Govt decided to wait another day or more to act upon this story – we in media/social media would have gotten an additional day to brow beat on Axact – clever media strategy is to quickly diffuse this case as it has already reached a tipping point – they may have chosen to go into immediate damage control, because now by tomorrow – statements like – “its being investigated” would have diverted all media attention to something else…. and the Pakistani nation moves on – and Axact again lives happily every after …. Nothing found since the entire issue was placed on sleep mode
On the issue, if FIA should have issued warrants and formal charge before raid:
This is a genuine concern, FIA for all intents and purposes should approach this case with care, but announcing a raid with legal warrants means a delay and any person empowered to do a “delete-all” on the servers could mean significant damage to any possible evidence – in the present digital era – immediate confiscation of equipment is more important, than paperwork (which needs to be carefully followed up)
What FIA needs to do (ideally) is raid & control of the entire facility, wait for the clients lawyers to come and then one by one confiscate any/all equipment under their explicit watch, sealing them as they go on – FIA should also come with an independent watch-dog who can give valuable advise on how to best preserve the data for both parties – but that said this is in the idea world —- in Pakistan – you would see all the CPU’s loaded a mile-high police van tied down by flimsy rope. God help the data.
What Next
Time will tell… it could be a Khanani & Kalia like prosecution they may end up being totally annhilated and disappear with whatever wealth they have stored abroad, as Axact has been used and abused and its now time to move on. Or it could simply be asked to move forward launch BOL and continue building a dynasty it has quietly waited on the sidelines for – while the Axact Degree Mill could easily continue under a new umbrella, simply said – there shall be scammers if there are enough people ready to be scammed, business as usual