Dilip Rahulan, the Indian-born founder of technology firm Pacific Controls, has been jailed for three years in absentia, according to Dubai court documents.

Papers from Dubai Public Prosecution, seen by Arabian Business, state that Rahulan was sentenced to three years in prison on 27 December 2016 for “issuing in bad faith a dud cheque”.

The case was brought by Indian national Shah Tigashkomar Vinodchandra, who alleged that Rahulan signed two cheques totalling AED21,852,500 ($5.9 million) that were later returned due to insufficient funds, according to the court documents.

The case was made against Rahulan personally, not against Pacific Controls, and Pacific Controls declined to comment when approached by Arabian Business.

Rahulan’s whereabouts are unknown to the public and he was jailed ‘in absentia’ at Dubai’s First Instance Court.

The Dubai government has issued an international arrest warrant via Interpol calling for Rahulan to be returned to Dubai to serve his sentence.

The warrant states that Rahulan was born in Cochin, India, but has an Australian passport, and it lists among his personal details an address and telephone number in New Jersey, US.

Efforts were made to contact Rahulan via this channel but no response had been received at the time of publication.

Vinodchandra said in an emailed statement to Arabian Business this week: “When Dilip breached my trust, it was like [the] sky is falling. I lost trust in everything for quite some time.

He added: “Time heals everything. Trust is life. Accidents can happen.”

Rahulan set up Pacific Controls in Australia in 1984 before expanding the company to Dubai.

It became known as a champion of environmentally friendly buildings, devising technology to monitor energy efficiency. Its UAE headquarters were awarded the title of the Middle East’s first platinum-rated green building by the US Green Building Council in 2007.

The company has counted Saudi Arabian telco Mobily and other GCC government entities among its clients.

Last July, Pacific Controls was reported to be in talks with UAE banks over $381 million of debt. This was said to be partly the result of delayed payments from some of its clients that left it unable to meet repayments on short-term bilateral loans.

The following month, Pacific Controls commenced a turnaround exercise overseen by KPMG, including reducing staff numbers and other cost-cutting measures.

Rahulan explained the reasons for restructuring in an email to a creditor dated May 4 2016. The email, seen by Arabian Business, states: “Due to some unprecedented challenges with the market we have had to trim our excess baggage…

“This is a measure to sustain the Pacific Controls growth strategy and ensure we are able to extend our services in the cloud as a predominant revenue model.”

At the time Pacific Controls said Rahulan was out of the UAE recuperating from an illness.