Chennai: The board of Polaris Software met today to take on record and review the future course of action on the unlawful detention of its chairman and managing director and CEO Arun Jain and senior vice-president Rajiv Malhotra in Indonesia.

Through a resolution, the Polaris board also placed on record its gratitude to and acknowledged the support of the Indian government through its unprecedented diplomatic efforts led by External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha, IT Minister Pramod Mahajan and their respective offices. The board hopes that, going forward too, this support will be available.

The Board also formally placed on record its thanks to the Indonesian government and officials who facilitated the safe return of Jain and Malhotra to India. Through another resolution, the board also thanked the tireless efforts for this India Inc cause made by the Confederation of Indian Industry, Nasscom and the media.

The board, upon reviewing the complete episode, has unanimously agreed that the case was clearly a “commercial dispute” between Bank Artha Graha and Polaris Software, and did not qualify, under any circumstances, as a “criminal dispute.”

The Polaris board has recommended the following actions:

• Polaris to move the “arbitration” proceedings against Bank Artha Graha in Singapore as specified by the contract for commercial disputes
• Polaris to move legally in Indonesian courts to quash any criminal charges under the Indonesian law
• Polaris also to contemplate all other legal action(s) with respect to the Bank Artha Graha case

The board also today has appointed a legal committee to oversee the above actions of Polaris against Bank Artha Graha. This committee will be headed by Arvind Kumar, a director on the Polaris board and a Supreme Court lawyer.

Commenting on his appointment as head of the legal committee, Kumar said: “We clearly recognise this to be a commercial dispute only. But, even as we proactively initiate arbitration proceedings to settle the dispute with Bank Artha Graha, we will explore all legal avenues to see what action can be taken against the bank for its unlawful action against our chairman and another senior executive.”