Ex-Maine man arrested on fraud charges in India

NEW DELHI, India – An Indian court refused bail Thursday for an American businessman arrested this week on charges of defrauding a local company in an information technology business deal.

Police arrested John Schofield, 63, formerly of Kennebunk, Maine, at a hotel in the southern city of Bangalore on Sunday. They brought him to New Delhi, where a judge ordered him jailed for 14 days while the case is investigated.

An appeal for Schofield’s release on bail would be made to a higher court, said his attorney, J.S. Vedi.

Schofield, owner of TriTech Information Strategies, could be jailed for seven years if convicted of charges of fraud and criminal breach of trust.

Prosecutor Irfan Ahmed told the magistrate on Thursday that Schofield had issued a check for $200,000 in U.S. dollars to M/S Geo Connect Ltd, an Indian company, for providing services to his U.S. clients through a call center on the outskirts of New Delhi for 18 days in December.

The check bounced when presented to a bank in Kennebunk because it was drawn from a closed account, Ahmed said.

The Indian company claimed it had continued to provide call center services to Schofield’s clients in the United States because it took 25 days to learn the check was no good. The prosecutor said Geo Connect’s services during that period were worth 100 million rupees, or $2 million.

The defense attorney told the court that Schofield didn’t pay the Indian company because his U.S. clients withheld payments to him on the grounds that the charges were eight times the actual cost of such services.

J.R. Priani, another of Schofield’s attorneys, told the magistrate that Schofield wanted to settle the dispute with Geo Connect Ltd.

In the United States, Schofield’s wife said TriTech may owe money but that the case should be a civil, not a criminal, matter.

Linda Schofield fears her husband is the victim of a blackmail attempt. She said she has received more than a half-dozen calls from India demanding money to free her husband. His wallet was taken and his bank account has been emptied, leaving her without money, she said.