PUTRAJAYA, Oct 20 — The Court of Appeal today dismissed fashion designer Datuk Jovian Mandagie’s appeals to set aside the High Court’s decisions granting two companies’ applications for summary judgment against him in a lawsuit over the alleged breach of friendly loan agreements.
A three-man bench comprising Justices Datuk Wong Kian Kheong, Datuk Seri Mohd Firuz Jaffril and Datin Paduka Evrol Mariette Peters, dismissed the appeal by a 2-1 majority decision.
Justices Wong and Mohd Firuz Jaffril decided the majority decision while Peters dissented.
Lawyer Siti Nur Athirazatti Rohizad, representing Bina Pragmatik Sdn Bhd and Cekap Air Sdn Bhd, confirmed the court’s decision when contacted by Bernama.
In affirming the High Court's decision to enter summary judgment against Jovian, the majority held that the evidential burden rested on him to show the existence of a triable issue, which he had failed to do.
Meanwhile, Peters said Jovian's appeal should be allowed because there was no written documentary evidence setting out the terms of the “friendly loan” at the time the transactions were made.
The court ordered Jovian, who is the former son-in-law of former prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, to pay RM60,000 in legal costs.
The High Court Judge, Datuk Ahmad Fairuz Zainol Abidin, (now Court of Appeal judge) had allowed Cekap Air and Bina Pragmatik's applications on April 2 and 4, 2024, respectively to enter summary judgment against Jovian and ordered him to pay RM5 million each to the two companies.
The summary judgment was obtained when the court decided the case through written submissions without a full trial.
The two companies had filed separate lawsuits against Jovian for allegedly failing to repay RM5 million each, which was loaned to him based on his friendship with the companies’ directors.
Bina Pragmatik claimed that it had lent Jovian RM5 million at his verbal request on March 25, 2022, by transferring the money to the client account of a law firm representing the fashion designer and that it had to be repaid within a period not exceeding 12 months.
The company claimed that despite making several verbal requests for repayment, Jovian had failed to repay the amount. It said a letter of demand was subsequently issued on April 5, 2023, but the amount remains unpaid, resulting in a financial loss to the company.
Meanwhile, Cekap Air claimed it had granted a RM5 million loan on February 25, 2022, following a verbal request from Jovian, with the amount transferred to the client account of the law firm representing him. The loan was repayable within 12 months.
The company claimed that Jovian had breached the loan agreement and had so far failed to repay or return the money, causing the company to suffer losses.
At the Court of Appeal today, lawyers Mohd Hafiz Mahmund and Aawaisha Pillai represented Jovian while counsel Siti Nur Athirazatti and Muhammad Kausar Mohd Khairi represented the two companies. — Bernama