Arun Jain released but held back in Indonesia

BANGALORE: Polaris Chairman, Managing Director and CEO, Arun Jain has been released after the intervention of the Indian government. His colleague and Polaris senior vice president, Rajiv Malhotra has also been released along with Jain. According to company sources both are safe and healthy in the Indian embassy in Indonesia.

However their respective passports have been held back for no reason. Earlier the Indonesian Foreign Ministry has very clearly stated to the Indian government that the issue revolving the Chennai-based Polaris and Indonesian Bank Arth Graha was not a criminal offence and will be resolved quickly with their release.

By releasing the two executives from the detention center and holding them back in the country by withholding their passports, the Indonesian government has only partly responded to India’s diplomatic deliberation. Jain and Malhotra may be forced to spend some more days in Indonesia since the Indonesian government is on a long weekend leave until the 26^th December 2002.

"Although the IT minister has gone on record to a section of the media mentioning about the release of Jain and Malhotra along with their passport, we just checked and he is withdrawing his statement, because the passports of the two gentlemen have been withheld," informed company source.

Meanwhile the Indonesian press has given wide covered to the Polaris case. Sources in Indonesia pointed out that Polaris' client, Bank Artha Graha's association with the Indonesian army and the country's weak legal system had worked against the company. "The ability of local strongmen to buy a decision in the courts are a known fact here," they said.

In the most recent case, the ex-Indonesian partner of Canadian insurance company Manulife was able to get Manulife declared bankrupt and placed under court receivership. The incident was criticized globally and required the intervention of Canada's Prime Minister, following which Indonesian supreme court overturned that verdict. Later, it was established that the three-member bench that gave the original verdict had taken bribes, and all three are now being prosecuted.

At the home front, Nasscom President, Kiran Karnik has thanked Pramod Mahajan, Union Minister for Information Technology, Communications and Parliamentary Affairs who has been instrumental in securing an early resolution of this issue. “We are also appreciative of the efforts by Mr. Yashwant Sinha, Union Minister for External Affairs, who has been speaking to his counterpart in Jakarta and also the Indonesian Ambassador in India to resolve the issue at a diplomatic level, ” he said.

The solidarity and the support of the entire Indian IT industry has undoubtedly been an important factor in the resolution of this crisis. We would also like to acknowledge the support of the full spectrum of the Indian industry on this issue. This is probably the first case of its type and we are happy to note that the government has thrown its full weight behind securing the release of a business professional who has been wrongly confined.

Nasscom will take up this issue at an industry level with the government and at global platforms such as the WTO to prevent any such future occurrences.