OHEC reduces debt burden for Dolrudee’s guarantors
The Office of Higher Education Commission (OHEC) has confirmed that it had offered assistance to the guarantors who are responsible for repaying the debt of Harvard School of Dental Medicine lecturer Dr Dolrudee Jumlongras, who defaulted on the requiremen
The OHEC also said it would proceed with legal action against Dolrudee.
Meanwhile, Dr Padet Poolwithayakit, a dentist in Saraburi province and one of the four guarantors, said the Office of the Auditor General has agreed preliminarly to prosecute Dolrudee under the criminal code, but would clarify the issue next week.
Padet also said Mahidol University (MU) should take responsibility because the former rector had accepted Dolrudee’s resignation and failed to follow up on the case, which had led to the current situation.
OHEC deputy secretary general Soranit Siltharm insisted yesterday that his office hadn’t neglected Dolrudee’s alleged debt default. He said the OHEC had filed a bankruptcy lawsuit against the dentist, with the first hearing scheduled for March 14.
Soranit added that the OHEC, the MU Facility of Dentistry, the Finance Ministry’s Comptroller General's Department and Dolrudee’s four guarantors met in September and agreed to proceed with lawsuits against the dentist.
In regards to the outstanding debt, the OHEC had offered to minimise the burden for the guarantors, reducing the required repayment from Bt35 million to Bt7.6 million. He said guarantors were satisfied with the solution and had already paid the required amount.
The MU Facility of Dentistry foundation assisted the guarantors, who were Mahidol employees, to secure loans to repay the debt, Soranit said. He added that it would be impossible to completely absolve the guarantors of Dolrudee’s debts, which they were required to repay by law.
“We have to thank society for the pressure on Dolrudee because Thai law can’t be applied due to her residency in another country,” he said.
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