Chennai: Polaris Software CEO Arun Jain and senior vice-president Rajiv Malhotra reached home on the Christmas day after spending 11 traumatic days in Indonesia (See ). Immediately after landing in Chennai (from Singapore), Jain addressed a press conference, in which he described his “Indonesian safari” as a learning experience.

For the first time since Jain’s detention in Jakarta on “Friday, the 13th” he revealed that the Polaris customer, Bank Artha Graha, actually wanted $10 million in damages for the delay in the implementation of the project (See ). But due to the intervention of the Indian external affairs ministry and the Indian embassy in Jakarta, both of them could return to India “without paying a single paise.”

The contract says that the maximum liability under any circumstances would be limited to the money that Bank Artha Graha had paid Polaris, which now stands at $6,62,000. What secured the release of Jain and Malhotra was the assurance given to the Indonesian authorities by the ministry of external affairs, that both the Polaris officials will present themselves in the Indonesian courts whenever necessary and will pay the $6,62,000 if the court so ordered (See ).

To back this assurance, Polaris Software has given a cheque for $6,62,000 to the Indian embassy in Jakarta, to be handed over to Bank Artha Graha, in case the Indonesian courts ruled in favour of the bank. Polaris officials also mentioned that the agreement contained a clause that said that in case of any dispute, the parties will resolve the dispute through an arbitration process in Singapore.

The officials admitted that they had agreed to a trial in Indonesia under duress, and that the assurance of the Indian external affairs ministry was only for their personal appearance — it would not stand in the way of Polaris demanding a Singapore-based arbitration.

The course of action the company will take is as yet unclear. Jain said whether the company would go in for a defamation/damages suit or not would be decided at a board meeting later.