WHO IS SHOAIB AHMAD SHAIKH?

Axact’s chief executive, Shoaib Ahmad Shaikh, portrayed himself as a self-made tycoon of sweeping ambition with a passion for charity. Growing up in a oneroom house in Pakistan, he once said in a speech, his goal was to become “the richest man on the planet, even richer than Bill Gates”.

At gala company events he described Axact, which he founded in 1997, as a global software leader. His corporate logo — a circular design with a soaring eagle — bears a striking resemblance to the American presidential seal.

In an interview in November 2013 about Pakistan’s media sector, Shaikh described Axact as an “IT and IT network services company” that serves small and medium-sized businesses. “On a daily basis, we make thousands of projects. There’s a long client list,” he said, but declined to name those clients. Unusual for a software entrepreneur, Shaikh does not habitually use email or a cellphone.

But his ambition was undimmed: In 2014, he announced plans for Gal Axact, a futuristic headquarters building with its own monorail system and space for 20,000 employees. His philanthropic vision, meanwhile, had a populist streak that resonated with many Pakistanis’ frustrations with their government. “Winning and caring” was the motto of Shaikh, who claimed to have donated 65 per cent of Axact’s revenues to charity. In 2014, he announced plans for a programme to educate 10 million Pakistani children by 2019. He had also started a project to help resolve small civil disputes and had vowed to pump billions of dollars into Pakistan’s economy. “There is no power in the universe that can prevent us from realising this dream,” he declared.