Debt dispute heads to judges
Gym owner and former model Chalomejit “Looktarn” Junkate is taking a jeweller to court after a debt dispute soured their friendship amid claims of assault.
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| Looktarn |
Looktarn, accompanied by her lawyer Decha Thongsuk, filed papers with the Criminal Court in Ratchada recently after her creditor, Thitapat “Jum” Akarasakdapirom, owner of the Blue Diamond jewellery chain, confronted Looktarn at her gym last month to demand repayment of a 1.4 million baht loan.
Jum, owner of the Blue Diamond jewellery chain, confronted Looktarn on Feb 2 at her Hotmanfactory SpeedFitness gym in Soi RCA, Huai Khwang district after the ex-model, she says, blocked her on social media and refused to respond to her demand for prompt repayment.
Looktarn said the confrontation at the gym, which Jum filmed and posted on social media, had led to a loss of confidence in her business, which is now losing millions of baht a month in potential revenue as would-be customers stay away. She is seeking court action over the intimidating manner in which Jum demanded repayment, for damage to her reputation, and over the “usurious” interest she charged.
“Someone on her side made contact after the gym drama asking us not to sue, but I have to protect my reputation,” Looktarn said, complaining that Jum had accused her of dodging repayment, which was not true.
“Before she came and demanded repayment we were in contact via lawyers; we agreed we would deal with the matter through them. But she didn’t go down this route, she chose to slam me in public, which has caused me harm.
“I want customers to know it is not actually about the gym but a personal matter concerning the sale of jewellery and other capital items (collateral for the loan), but her actions led people to misunderstand,” Looktarn said.
Her lawyer, Mr Decha, said he had not asked the court to rule on the debt dispute.
“Do we have debt left over, and if so, how much do we have to pay: they are welcome to come and tell us. But they have not responded to our invitation to take legal action to sort out the matter,” he said.
His side also planned a civil suit demanding 10 million baht in damages, he said.
Looktarn and Jum, once close friends, have fallen out over the loans drama with Looktarn failing to pay back the debt as agreed by the end of 2018, forcing Jum to take on the burden of repaying the bank on her behalf for the past 12 months.
She said Looktarn approached her a couple of years ago asking if she could help her meet a cash shortfall as she wanted to expand her business. She reluctantly agreed to lend her the overdraft for her business, on which the bank charges 20% annual interest.
A video clip of the pair outside the gym shows Jum asking Looktarn for payment. Looktarn refuses to talk and calmly gets into her BMW and drives away. In her complaint later to Makkasan police, Jum says Looktarn slapped her in the face. Looktarn denies hitting her.
The pair agreed Looktarn would make repayments of 70,000 baht a month, though the loan contracts did not specify how much was interest. Looktarn said she contacted her friend after paying 840,000 baht over 12 months only to be told she had yet to start repaying the principal.
Looktarn says she is happy for Jum to seek legal action and sell the surety in the meantime. “Anything left over I will pay at the court’s direction,” she said.
However, Jum would rather Looktarn settle the debt and retrieve her surety instead. “She claims I charge usurious interest, which has damaged my reputation,” Jum said last month, adding she would herself sue Looktarn for defamation.
Looktarn said she understood she was paying interest of 5% a year; Jum told her later it was 5% a month and she had yet to touch the principal. The court set May 25 for the first hearing. The row continues.
Japan visit spooks lakorn set
Cast and crew of two soap operas are fearing for their health after a husband and wife couple who are also supporting actors returned from coronavirus-infected Japan but dodged self-quarantine and turned up straight for work.
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| Jakjaan |
Actress Akhamsiri “JakJaan” Suwanasuk’s manager complained about the unidentified couple in a social media post last week, saying they returned from Japan late last month and promptly went to work.
“They also denied they had been overseas, and when confronted with the truth later changed their tune, but insisted they were clear of the coronavirus,” said Pokchonn “RB” Dissayabutra.
She doubted the duo, who work as itinerant supporting actors, travelling from set to set as needed, had been for a medical check-up despite their claims to the contrary. This put cast and crew working on at least two soap operas at risk.
The couple returned from Japan on Feb 27 and two days later, the male half of the duo turned up for work at a soap opera where he played the role of doctor. On March 2, he played the role of manager for another soap, she said.
“The production team conducted initial screening of cast and crew, asking if they had travelled to any risk countries in the past 14 days. They said they hadn’t, but later the news came out.
“The industry is a small one and when they were asked again one of the pair admitted they had been to Japan but insisted he had been tested,” she said.
The crew didn’t believe he had really been to get tested, because he started work soon so quickly after returning from Japan. “Where did you get the time to see the doctor?” she asked.
The industry had since sounded an alert about the potential risk posed by the couple by passing on word via various Line groups, and the two have since been banned from soap operas until the virus scare passes, she said.
“They didn’t self-isolate as per the standard, and in fact went about accepting work every day.
“If the actor didn’t have the virus, well and good. But if he was infected and someone on set gets it, he will have caused them distress. Before this, production on another soap was cancelled after an actress declined to disclose that she had visited an at-risk country in the past seven days, and had not been for a test.
“We must start by taking responsibility for ourselves, but it’s actually not enough: we must look after each other as well,” she said. She declined to identify the couple, saying talent agencies who recruit them for work and production assistants on set knew who they are.
Ghost steps in to help widow
A widow is thanking a “GPS ghost” for guiding motorists to the place where her husband’s body lay for a month, undetected on a sharp, deadly corner of a road.
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| Location of the crash |
Sureeporn Sae-gnor, 48, from Pluak Daeng district in Rayong, said she was reunited with the body of her husband, Noi Kankaeng, 43, last week after he went missing on Jan 18. He is thought to have crashed on a sharp corner along a reservoir, but his body and motorcycle lay undetected for weeks.
A couple of motorcyclists found the spot on March 3 as they used a GPS navigator on their phone to help guide them through pitch darkness around Dok Krai reservoir, in Mae Nam Koo sub-district. Unfortunately, their own vehicle also crashed at the spot, and one of them died.
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| Sureeporn |
They were heading out to visit a newly opened market in the district but did not know the way. Earlier, Noi is thought to have crashed on his motorbike nearby on what locals say is a dangerous bend. It lay there undetected for weeks until the couple’s GPS device guided them to the same spot and where one was to meet a similar fate.
The couple’s motorcycle failed to take a sharp bend in the road, and their bike fell into a steep ditch covered in trees and bush. Piyanut Keowsakoo, 32, was at the wheel and later died from injuries in the crash. Her friend riding double behind her, Napapha Bunahsa, 29, was injured but managed to get back on the road to seek help.
Napapha said that as she staggered back to the road she came across another motorbike, in a dilapidated condition, and a few metres from that a man’s decomposing body, later identified as Noi’s.
Ms Sureeporn said her husband Noi said on the night he disappeared that he was going out to see a friend who had asked to borrow his phone. He would also meet some friends for a drink and later planned to spend the night by the side of the reservoir.
After she failed to hear from him again she assumed he had gone off in search of work. However, she also checked with hospitals and rescue foundations, and later laid a missing person’s notice with police after failing to find any trace of him.
She said Noi had appeared in her dreams a couple of weeks later, drinking with his friends, though his friends whom he intended to meet that night told her he never made it to their drinking date.
Noi had also appeared in the dreams of their 12-year-old son, standing outside their house alongside his motorbike which was in a dilapidated condition, eerily similar to the state in which they were to find the bike by the side of the road weeks later.
She believes he appeared in their dreams because he wanted them to find his body. The GPS “ghost” later guided the motorcyclists to the same spot. She was reunited with Noi after Ms Napapha alerted police to her gruesome find, and police called in Ms Sureeporn, who identified the body as his.
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