Polaris chief detained by Indonesian cops

Chennai-based Polaris Software Lab on Monday said its chairman and managing director, Arun Jain, had been detained 'against his will' by the Indonesian police in Jakarta.

"Arun Jain, who is chairman, managing director and chief executive officer of Polaris Software, has been held by the police in Jakarta. He had travelled to Jakarta with a team of senior executives on a software development project for Bank Artha Graha to resolve some commercial issues," the company said in a statement.

Polaris Software had signed agreements with Bank Artha Graha in June 2002 and August 2002, dealing with central processing and disaster recovery and branch server related work. The contract was supposed to have been completed by July 2003.

Bank Artha Graha served a notice of contract termination to Polaris Software on November 27. Polaris responded on December 3, stating that the grounds for termination were incorrect, and offered to resolve the issue.

Polaris said that Arun Jain and his party, on their arrival in the office of Bank Artha Graha on December 13, were detained against their wishes and were not allowed to leave the premises.

The bank apparently has preferred a complaint with the police and on that basis the Indonesian police have now detained them.

In the evening, Bank Artha Graha filed a report with the police station at Jalan Truno Joyo Tiga 3 in Jakarta, and the police detained them.

They were still in detention, and the company was trying to secure their release through the ministry of external affairs, the ministry of information technology, Nasscom, and the Indian embassy in Jakarta, the company said.

The Polaris board met in Delhi on Monday to review the situation. It appointed Govind Singhal, executive director, as acting chief executive officer of Polaris. "We are deeply shocked and saddened at the turn of events," said Singhal.

"There is a specific provision in the agreement for arbitration in Singapore to settle any dispute and it is disturbing that our chairman and other executives have been subjected to such humiliating treatment because of a commercial dispute. We expect their early return to India. However, the management and the staff of Polaris are conducting normal business," he added.

The company is reportedly making vigorous attempts to secure their release through the ministry of external affairs, ministry of information technology, Nasscom and the Indian embassy in Jakarta.

Additonal inputs: Business Standard