KUALA LUMPUR, July 23 — Prominent fashion designer Datuk Jovian Mandagie has been declared bankrupt by the High Court after failing to repay a RM5.3 million verbal loan extended by construction firm Cekap Air Sdn Bhd in 2022.
The court granted the bankruptcy order following Jovian’s unsuccessful attempts to stay and strike out the creditor’s petition. The company claimed the loan was given based on a personal relationship between its director and Jovian, who at the time was the son-in-law of then-prime minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
Cekap Air said there was no written agreement, but an expectation of full repayment within 12 months — an obligation Jovian allegedly failed to fulfil. Despite a summary judgment issued in April 2024 ordering him to repay RM5,284,340.66 (including interest), Jovian did not comply.
His appeal against the judgment is set to be heard at the Court of Appeal on September 15.
