Documentation:-

Scanned Copies of Court Documents
   Petition for Bail Page 1                                                       Petition for Bail Page 2    
   OrderSheet Page 1                                                             Order Sheet Page 2
   FIA application for discharge with comments               FIR Page 1
   FIR Page 2                                                                           Court Proceeding Page 1
   Court Proceeding Page 2                                                 Court Proceeding Page 3
   FIA application to court for Discharge                            FIA NOC
   PTA NOC                                                                             Release Order


Press Releases: 

December 14, 2006 - PSEB asks members to seek PTA permission
The News Pakistan

December 17, 2006 - PTA caught on the wrong foot
The Nation

December 19,2006 - Cogilent CEO bail not accepted


Media Room:

December 17, 2006 - IT delegation calls on Awais Leghari
Pakistan Observer

December 17, 2006 - IT industry meets minister over software firm incident
Daily Times

December 17, 2006 - Awais seeks software Company CEO’s early release.
Business Recorder

December 17, 2006 - PTA withdraws case against software house
The News

PSEB NewsLetters

#1 -Dated 12 Dec 06 : On Illegal Use Of Voice Over Internet (Voip) Technology 

#2 -Dated 16 Dec 06: Clarification To PSEB Newsletter Dated 12th December 2006

#3 -Dated 19 Dec 06: Update on Cogilent Solution Issue

#4- Dated 22 Dec 06:  Awareness on VoIP Issues


Latest Update

Mr. Faisal Choohan, CEO Cogilent Solutions was finally released on Saturday evening, around 10 pm 23rd December 2006. Though the bail was rejected initially  but due to the collective efforts of PSEB, MoITT, Industrial Associations like PASHA, ACOO and other higher government officials, he was released later on.

PSEB officials attended the Session Court hearing on Monday, 18th December 2006, along with a few industry representatives. Although, documents supporting the bail of Mr. Faisal Khan were provided to the court by FIA and PTA, bail of the CEO has not been accepted on technical grounds as per the Cogilent lawyer. 
 

Now a bail application will be filed on Saturday 23rd December 2006 in Session Court and we hope and expect that Mr. Faisal will be released soon after.

PSEB officials also visited Mr. Chohan at Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi and his family in Islamabad. They assured their continued support on behalf of Ministry of Information Technology. PSEB seeks a high level inquiry into the circumstances leading to the arrest, in order to ensure that the rights of IT industry are protected and such an incident is not repeated again.


The Incident:

Mr. Faisal Chohan, CEO of Islamabad based company, Cogilent Solutions, was arrested on the suspicion that his company was involved in illegal use of VoIP on commercial basis. Cogilent Solutions has been popular in industry for its leading HR portal of Pakistan with the name of BrightSpyre.

Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), under the patronage of Ministry of Information Technology and Telecom (MoITT) is reviewing this matter as top priority in order to help the company. Federal Minister of MoITT, Mr. Awais Leghari, held a press conference today on 16th December 2006 at Evacuee Trust Complex, in Islamabad with a members of Pakistan IT industry comprising of Mr. Ashraf Kapadia, President, Pakistan Software Houses Association (P@SHA), Mr. Abdullah Butt, President, Association of Call Center Operators (ACCO) and Mr. Wahaj Siraj, Convener, Internet Service Providers Association of Pakistan (ISPAK) and senior executives from the Industry to discuss this unfortunate incident. M/s Cogilent Solutions was mistakenly raided by a joint team of FIA & PTA on the complaint of PTCL and the CEO was arrested. The Minister informed the press that he has already taken immediate actions and has personally requested the Chairman PTA to issue necessary clarifications and instructions to FIA in order to secure immediate release of the innocent CEO. He added that the case is being followed up with the Court on priority basis. On the Minister’s orders a directive is being issued to all relevant authorities clarifying the policy of Voice Over IP and its non-commercial usage by the IT and ITeS industry.

Mr. Yusuf Hussain, Managing Director PSEB, once again has assured his continuous support. He urged that the suspect is innocent and the company was using VoIP only for test and development purposes. On his official tour of Malaysia along with Federal Secretary Ministry of IT; MD, PSEB was in constant contact with all stakeholders for an early resolution of the incident. He has also cut short his visit and returned back to Pakistan in the evening. He assured that PSEB will continue making best efforts to seek the release of the CEO of M/s Cogilent Solutions. PSEB’s position on the matter has been unequivocal. MD PSEB paid a visit to FIA on the very first morning of his arrival to Pakistan and helped arrange a lawyer for legal defense. Since the night of the arrest, PSEB has been interacting with all the concerned stakeholders and putting in maximum efforts. These efforts will be continued with all spirits till the release of CEO. The actions taken by Pakistan Software Export Board were highly praised by the delegates, as PSEB has gone out of their way to resolve this issue by working hand-in-hand with the industry. All trade bodies of Pakistan IT industry have united under the banner of Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB) as one voice of the industry.

In the coming days PSEB intends to work with all stakeholders to ensure a reassessment of rules, procedures and their interpretation in order to prevent a recurrence of this unfortunate incidence.