The Harvard dentistry lecturer accused of skipping out on scholarship debt worth THB30 million has insisted she will repay the loan.
Dr Dolrudee Jumlongras wrote to Nation TV responding to claims that she had welched on the multi-million scholarship debt from Mahidol University and forcing four Thai guarantors to pay up for her, saying “the allegation that I tried to escape and dodge the payment obligation is untrue.”
“It has always been my intention to repay the scholarship that I obtained from Mahidol University,” Dolrudee said in the letter.
Dolrudee, who has come under fire from Thai citizens on social media after her guarantors were compelled to pay THB8 million of her debt, claimed she had asked the university for flexibility in debt repayments, but was refused.
She then goes on to explain that she had been unable to work for a number of years due to severe financial and personal hardships, but had been able to “restart” her life again with the support of family, friends, patients and colleagues.
“Since then, I have expressed my desire to be responsible for the loan repayment verbally….and I have been making some payments, when possible, through my co-signers,” Dolrudee wrote.
“I am currently still in the process of trying to obtain money, and I ask that I be allowed more time to repay my co-signers.”
However, one of her guarantors, Dr Padej Poonwithayakij, who was forced to pay THB2.2 million to Mahidol last month, was unimpressed with the letter.
“I read it, but i don’t like being fed with lies,” he wrote, according to Nation TV.
Thai netizens have been publicly shaming Dolrudee after Padej accused her of skipping out on the debt on his Facebook page, digging into her life in the States and posting photos of what is claimed to be her luxurious home.
Mahidol University and the Office of the Higher Education Commission plan to file a civil lawsuit to force the dentist into bankruptcy so that they can take legal action against her if she returns to Thailand.
“She cannot just pay her guarantors back the THB8 million. That’s not the end of it,” said Mahidol University vice-president Banchong Mahaisavariya.
“She skipped out on the scholarship and must pay THB30 million [back to the university]. She cannot just zigzag and pay THB8 million. That doesn’t get her out of the case.”
Related:
Mahidol University to sue ‘debt-skipping’ Harvard dentist into bankruptcy
Thai-born Harvard dentist accused of welching on multi-million baht scholarship debt to Mahidol
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