London, Apr 02: The Chief of the Dutch subsidiary of I-flex Senthil Kumar, who was arrested on alleged violation of Dutch visa rules, was today granted bail by a local court. Magistrate Workman, while granting bail on a bond of 20,000 pounds, directed Kumar not to leave London and fixed the case for hearing on April 11. India had strongly condemned the Dutch government`s action of issuing the Interpol arrest warrant against Kumar and subsequently asking 12 Indian software experts to leave the country, terming it as a "neo-non tariff barrier which comes in the way of free flow of services of professionals in violation of the WTO norms."
A spokesman of the external affairs ministry in Delhi had said that the Dutch government`s action against Kumar and 12 employees of the Mumbai-based I-flex Solutions was "grossly unfortunate, objectionable and patently unwarranted," adding that New Delhi had taken up the matter with The Netherlands at the highest level.
In London, two senior officials of the Indian High Commission had visited Kumar in the notorious Brixton Prison and offered consular assistance.
While sympathising with Kumar`s case, the British foreign office spokesman had said that they could do very little in the matter as it was a judicial process. Once the complaint was forwarded to British Police, they were bound under European Union arrangements to arrest him though they have nothing against him.
Kumar has been accused of involvement in providing false references for a number of company employees to come to work in Holland. The I-flex office in Mumbai has said that the visa documents of all employees in Amsterdam were in order.
It said the employees were on business visa while their work permits were being processed.
Bureau Report