Chennai: Polaris Software chairman and managing director and CEO Arun Jain and senior vice-president Rajiv Malhotra continue to be illegally detained in Jakarta, Indonesia. Reports from ‘ground zero’ indicate that they appear to be in good health.

The legal counsel for Polaris from India has arrived in Jakarta and is working on the ground with the international law firm Lucas Partners in trying to secure the release of Jain and Malhotra.

The company, in a press communiqué, reiterates that this detention is unlawful, as the contract has been drawn up under the laws of Singapore, and not Indonesia. “Even the arbitration facility to settle contractual disputes, like the current one, can be availed only under Singapore law. This makes the present incarceration of Jain and Malhotra even more reprehensible and needs to be condoned in the strongest possible terms.”

Polaris is grateful for the support of the trade and industry bodies and to the Indian government, especially Minister of Information Technology Pramod Mahajan, Minister of External Affairs Yashwant Sinha and their respective offices. “We are also very appreciative of the support provided by Kiran Karnik of Nasscom and Tarun Das of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).”

The families of Jain and Malhotra, too, are appealing to the Indian and Indonesian governments for a speedy resolution to this issue.

Rajeev Arora and Chander Singh, senior vice-presidents of Polaris who accompanied Jain and Malhotra to Indonesia and who were participants in the initial days of this incident, have returned to India safely. Though very shaken by the incident they have volunteered to share their perspective of the episode as described below:

• The meeting with Bank Artha Graha was originally planned for Wednesday, 11 December 2002
• The president of Bank Artha Graha, Anton Hudyana, appeared to be willing to sit across the table and discuss the issues. To accommodate this, the meeting was rescheduled to Friday, 13 December 2002, on a request from Bank Artha Graha
• On arriving at the bank’s premises on Friday at 1.30 pm (Indonesian time), Hudyana requested a one-on-one meeting with Jain
• At that meeting it was conveyed to Jain that Bank Artha Graha wanted only the termination of the contract. Their communication, in short, was to terminate the contract and settle compensation across the table or to face police action
• Even as the Polaris team tried to speak with the bank’s team to seek ways to resolve the conflict situation and to avoid the termination of the contract, Bank Artha Graha resorted to police intervention
• Arora and Singh were released and allowed to return to India after a 26-hour detention at the police station while Jain and Malhotra were taken to police detention

Jain and Malhotra continue to be held under detention and the company is making vigorous attempts to secure their release through representations by its legal team on the ground supported by diplomatic efforts by the ministry of external affairs, ministry of information technology, Nasscom, CII and Indian embassy in Jakarta.