Court of Appeal rejects fashion designer Jovian Mandagie’s bid to overturn RM10m payment order

The Court of Appeal dismissed Datuk Jovian Mandagie's appeals, upholding High Court decisions for summary judgment in favour of two companies over alleged breached loan agreements.

Judges Wong and Mohd Firuz Jaffril found Jovian failed to show a triable issue, while Judge Peters dissented due to lack of written evidence for the "friendly loan".

Jovian, ordered to pay RM60,000 in legal costs, faces claims from Bina Pragmatik and Cekap Air for failing to repay RM5 million each, loaned based on verbal agreements.

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

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上诉法院驳回了拿督乔维安·曼达吉的上诉，维持了高等法院对两家公司就涉嫌违反贷款协议作出的简易判决。

黄法官和莫哈末·菲鲁兹·贾夫里尔法官认为乔维安未能证明存在可审理的问题，而彼得斯法官则因缺乏“友好贷款”的书面证据而持不同意见。

Jovian 被勒令支付 6 万令吉的诉讼费，同时还面临 Bina Pragmatik 和 Cekap Air 的索赔，原因是他们未能偿还根据口头协议借出的 500 万令吉贷款。

布城，10月20日讯——上诉法院今日驳回了时装设计师拿督乔维安·曼达吉（Datuk Jovian Mandagie）的上诉，该上诉旨在推翻高等法院此前批准两家公司针对他提出的简易判决申请的裁决。这两家公司此前提起诉讼，指控他违反友好借贷协议。

由法官拿督黄建强、拿督斯里莫哈末菲鲁兹贾夫里尔和拿汀帕杜卡埃夫罗玛丽埃特彼得斯组成的三人法官以 2 比 1 多数决定驳回上诉。

黄法官和莫哈末·菲鲁兹·贾夫里尔法官作出了多数意见，而彼得斯法官持反对意见。

Bina Pragmatik Sdn Bhd 和 Cekap Air Sdn Bhd 的代表律师 Siti Nur Athirazatti Rohizad 在接受《马新社》采访时证实了法院的裁决。

多数法官在确认高等法院对乔维安作出的简易判决时认为，举证责任在于乔维安，他必须证明存在可审理的问题，但他未能做到这一点。

与此同时，彼得斯表示，Jovian 的上诉应该得到允许，因为在交易进行时没有书面文件证据列明“友好贷款”的条款。

法庭判令前首相拿督斯里伊斯迈尔·萨布里·雅各布的前女婿乔维安支付6万令吉的诉讼费。

高等法院法官拿督艾哈迈德·费鲁兹·扎伊诺尔·阿比丁（现为上诉法院法官）分别于 2024 年 4 月 2 日和 4 日批准了 Cekap Air 和 Bina Pragmatik 的申请，对 Jovian 作出简易判决，并命令他向这两家公司各支付 500 万令吉。

简易判决是指法院通过书面陈述而非进行全面审判来裁决案件。

这两家公司分别对乔维安提起诉讼，指控他未能偿还每笔 500 万令吉的贷款，这些贷款是基于他与公司董事的友谊而借给他的。

Bina Pragmatik 声称，2022 年 3 月 25 日，应 Jovian 的口头请求，该公司已向其借出 500 万令吉，并将这笔钱转入代表这位时装设计师的律师事务所的客户账户，并且必须在不超过 12 个月的期限内偿还。

该公司声称，尽管多次口头催款，Jovian仍未偿还款项。该公司表示，已于2023年4月5日发出催款函，但款项仍未支付，给公司造成了经济损失。

与此同时，Cekap Air声称，在Jovian口头提出申请后，该公司于2022年2月25日向其发放了500万令吉的贷款，款项已转入其律师事务所的客户账户。该贷款需在12个月内偿还。

该公司声称 Jovian 违反了贷款协议，至今仍未偿还或归还款项，导致该公司遭受损失。

今天在上诉法院，律师 Mohd Hafiz Mahmund 和 Aawaisha Pillai 代表 Jovian，律师 Siti Nur Athirazatti 和 Muhammad Kausar Mohd Khairi 代表两家公司。 — 马新社

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