Last month, Indonesian-born fashion designer Datuk Jovian Mandagie made a shocking announcement that he’ll be closing down his Jovian Mandagie Couture brand and the Jovian ready-to-wear line after 17 years of operation. In his statement, he said that he wanted to explore new opportunities as a businessman but there’s apparently more to the story.
According to The Star, the High Court has ordered the fashion mogul to cough up RM10 million to pay back two companies after failing to settle two “friendly loans” of the same amount. Could this be the actual reason why he had to cease operation for his company?
During the court session, it was revealed that Datuk Jovian verbally asked for a RM5 million loan each from Cekap Air and Bina Pragmatik back in February and March 2022 respectively. The directors of the two companies contended that the deals were done verbally and casually as they trusted the businessman but it was agreed that he should pay them back within 12 months.
Unfortunately, the plaintiffs suffered losses due to the designer’s negligence and delayed payments despite receiving a notice of demand back in 2023. In the summary judgement released yesterday (Thursday, 11th July), it was said that Justice Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin made the order against Jovian for him to pay back the “friendly loans” but the exact timeline for him to do so was not disclosed.
The court also ordered a 5% annual interest rate from the date of judgment until the plaintiffs received their complete payment. Although he did not dispute that the loans were given to him, the 38-year-old is not giving in just yet as it was understood he filed for an appeal for the decision made by the High Court.
Now begs the question: What exactly happened that led Jovian Mandagie to breach his loan agreements? Maybe one day we’ll know the answer once this court case has been settled.
Source: TheStar
