Polaris to sue Bank Artha Graha over executives' detention
Polaris to sue Bank Artha Graha over executives' detention
Agence France-Presse, Madras, India
An executive of a top Indian software firm who was held by
Jakarta police with a colleague for nearly two weeks said
Wednesday he planned legal action against the Indonesian bank
whose complaint had led to their arrest.
Arun Jain, chairman of leading Indian software firm Polaris
Software India Ltd., and the company's senior vice president
Rajiv Malhotra were arrested in Indonesia on Dec. 13 and returned
home Tuesday night after a public outcry in India.
Addressing reporters in the southern city of Madras, Jain said
Polaris would pursue charges against the Jakarta-based Bank Artha
Graha, which had alleged criminal deception over a US$1.3 million
software development project, leading to the arrests.
"We had gone there with the intention to resolve the
commercial dispute between Polaris and Bank Artha Graha. But
unfortunately the turn of events led to an unwilling detention
for us. Also the bank sought compensation across the table," Jain
said.
"The Polaris board will take into consideration all these
events and take appropriate legal action including a defamation
suit against the bank for our harrowing experience these last 12
days," he said.
Describing his experience as "an adventurous safari", Jain
said officials would not allow him or Malhotra, detained on the
28th floor of the bank office, to contact anyone, even the Indian
embassy in Jakarta.
He said he finally managed to slip into the washroom and call
up his Delhi office.
The two men were released last Friday after India's Foreign
Minister Yaswant Sinha spoke over the phone with his Indonesian
counterpart Hassan Wirayuda.
The executive said his detention could have been pre-meditated
move to extract money from Polaris.
"I have learnt that such practices are prevalent in the
Indonesian market," he said separately in an interview with Star
News television.
"But people don't take a stand. I was fortunate in being able
to refuse to bend backwards -- after all, I am a trustee of a
public limited company," Jain said.
Indonesia's shaky and corruption-prone judicial system is seen
as a major deterrent to foreign investment.