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.

巴基斯坦卡拉奇——巴基斯坦的調查人員於週三早些時候在軟件公司Axact發現了一個裝滿空白假學位證書的儲藏室後，指控該公司運行一個全球性的文憑僞造工廠，逮捕了公司的首席執行官。

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.

執法人員表示，首席執行官沙耶布·艾哈邁徳·謝赫(Shoaib Ahmed Shaikh)及其他四名Axact高管最初被指控犯有欺詐、僞造和非法電子資金轉移罪。他們被指控的罪名後來增添了洗錢、以及違反巴基斯坦的電子犯罪法。

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.

這些人被逮捕是對這個自稱爲巴基斯坦最大軟件出口商的公司的強烈打擊，該公司正打算啓動一個主要的電視網絡。自從5月19日《紐約時報》發表一篇文章，描述了該公司如何通過運作幾百個假的在線教育網站賺取了數百萬美元之後，Axact公司受到調查。

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.

從那時起，聯邦調查人員查封了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調查局尋求幫助。謝赫曾試圖在一系列電視採訪和視頻呼籲中爲自己辯護，他還要求法庭停止調查。

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.

但他所採取的法律措施沒有成功，週二晚，在接受了幾個小時的訊問之後，他把調查人員帶到設在國防部附近的卡拉奇高檔社區的Axact總部大樓。

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.

在大樓裏，調查人員發現了一個房間，裏面裝滿了帶有Axact經營的假大學和假高中名字的空白文憑，學校名稱包括灣景(Bay View)、堪布貝爾州立(Cambell State)、歐克斯貝爾(Oxdell)，以及尼克松(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.

“在那裏找到了成千上萬的證書，”領導此次調查的聯邦調查機構當地辦事處的負責人沙希德·哈亞特(Shahid Hayat)說。

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.”

巴基斯坦電視臺網播放了該房間和身穿帶有Axact標誌的黑色馬球衫的謝赫的圖片，他被帶進一輛等待在辦公樓外的車子。當他上車時，可以聽到他對該調查機構的官員說，他會“留意他們每個人”。

Mr. Hayat, the investigator, expressed surprise at the remark. “I don’t think he can threaten us,” he said.

調查員哈亞特對上述言論表示詫異。他說，“我覺得他不可能威脅我們。”

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.

謝赫隨後在週三出現在法庭上。法官批准了聯邦調查機構將謝赫及其他四名高管拘留到6月4日。調查人員早些時候曾表示，在他們檢查Axact網絡的同時，他們將尋求將拘留期延長14天，該公司的網絡跨越多個國家，還包括幾個離岸公司。

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.

Axact的網上活動似乎已基本上停止。記者最近幾天曾試圖聯繫該公司221個網站的銷售代理，但無人響應。該公司爲給這些大學賦予合法性而設立的幾家假鑑定機構也已經下線。

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.

巴基斯坦已要求美國聯邦調查局提供幫助，因爲許多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的銷售代理還出售帶有美國國務卿約翰·克里(John Kerry)簽名的認證證書。

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.

專家們說，假學位會給世界許多地方的公共安全和國家安全造成危害，可爲移民欺詐製造便利，也會給被發現使用它們的客戶帶來嚴重後果。

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.

Axact的兩名前高管曾在2009年分別表示，作爲美國軍方人員並同在伊拉克服役的一對美國夫婦給Axact發電子郵件稱，他們因提供從Axact運作的一所大學買來的學歷證明而面臨軍事法庭審判。

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.

據前銷售代理艾哈邁德(Ahmed)說——他要求記者不給出他的姓——這對夫婦爲在法庭上幫助自己辯護，請求該大學提供認證證書。艾哈邁德說，Axact的一名經理曾指示下屬屏蔽這對夫婦打來的電話。

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.

謝赫一直極力否認有任何不當行爲，但承認參與了網上學位生意。在被捕之前製作的最後視頻信息中，他說，Axact爲其他公司提供電話支持、以及他稱之爲“文件管理服務”的業務。他沒有透露這些公司的名字。

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.

這一醜聞已讓Bol蒙上陰影，Bol是Axact的電視和報業集團，曾計劃在六月開始運營。上週六，在巴基斯坦內政部長提到針對Axact的“大量證據”後，該媒體網絡的主編和幾位知名記者辭職。