Dolrudee violated her state scholarship condition to work in Thailand and allegedly refused to pay back the scholarship money.

Meanwhile, Mahidol president Udom Kachintorn affirmed he was ready to submit a lawsuit to the US court if the Office of Higher Education Commission (Ohec), who was the scholarship owner, would also sue Dolrudee. He said the university had already re-submitted documents and evidence in Dolrudee’s alleged debt default case to the Dean of Harvard University School of Dental Medicine, as recommended by the Harvard Medicine School Ombuds Office, as they weren’t able to probe the case. Affirming that the university wasn’t neglecting the issue, he also said that Mahidol had joined with Ohec to sue Dolrudee in a Thai court for bankruptcy.

Padet yesterday commented about a recent email from Dolrudee’s American husband, claiming his wife did not have the money to repay the debt, even though the guarantors would take the case to court.

Padet said the email message contrasted with the couple’s reality of living in a luxury house in the US worth almost Bt40 million. Padet said the guarantors would proceed with the suit against Dolrudee and were aided by Thais in the US and they also hired two lawyers to whom they have already sent documents and evidence.

He said the lawsuit would proceed to make an example that a practitioner or lecturer should act more responsibly and not cheat others.

“I think the husband’s explanation is out of fear of a lawsuit, which would tarnish their reputation. Urging us not to sue them, they claim it would lead to a lengthy process and it wouldn’t be worth it. We are not afraid of a prolonged legal battle and we will pursue legal action to the end,” Padet said.

The husband’s email claimed that Dolrudee didn’t have any assets in the US and the condominium used as collateral to buy their new home belonged to him.

The guarantors’ request for the couple to pay US$50,000 from a condominium sale and to pay the rest of the $150,0000 in 30 months was impossible, according to the email. If the guarantors proceed to file a lawsuit, a court battle would take 3-5 years and payment would only begin after the case was finalised.

These civil servants will have to declare their intention to make monthly repayments from their salary accounts by next Monday, or the SLF will raise their cases directly with their current employers.

“Many agencies have already signed an agreement to collect payments on our behalf,” SLF manager Thitima Vichairatana said yesterday.

Among the employers are the Comptroller General’s Department, the University of Phayao and Naresuan University.

Thitima added that the SLF was also preparing to sign similar agreements with about 100 other employers in a bid to collect unpaid debts.

About 4.5 million people have so far sought student loans. Of them, about 2 million have either defaulted or fallen behind their repayment schedules. Together, their combined debts to the SLF are about Bt56 billion.

More than 60,000 civil servants are among these debtors.

SLF chairman Somchai Sujja-pongs, who is also the permanent secretary for Finance, said yesterday that he had received reports that about 1,000 defaulters worked at the Finance Ministry.

“I want to ensure that none of the ministry’s officials will be defaulters,” he said.

He said civil servants who had agreed to have their salaries deducted to facilitate repayments to the SLF by February 15 would start monthly repayments before the end of September.

Somchai also disclosed that the Finance Ministry was in the process of passing a new law that would require employers to deduct |the salaries of employees for repayment.

“The monthly repayments can be made via the Revenue Department,” he said.

Thitima said separately she expected this new law to allow the SLF to also disclose debtors’ information.

“The draft of this law will be presented to the Cabinet soon and we expect to it take effect by 2019,” she said. Pending the new legislation, the SLF has already taken several measures to collect debt. It has made it more convenient for debtors to repay their debts, for example, by increasing the number of repayment channels. Since 2014, SLF debtors can make repayments via post offices and since last year they can also repay via Counter Service outlets.

Tougher measures have also been taken. For example, the SLF has already sent out notification letters, dunning letters and hired a debt-collecting company.

The company was responsible for securing Bt800 million in repayments in 2014 and Bt1.7 billion in 2015.

“In addition, we will seek cooperation from all government a|gencies and state enterprises in helping us collect the debts,” Somchai said.

He said the SLF would also ask for cooperation from the private sector.

SLF debt collection has improved in recent years, Somchai said. In 2013, the fund was able to collect Bt11 billion. The following year, it collected Bt13 billion and last year, it recouped as much as Bt17 billion.

“This year, the SLF aims to collect Bt19 billion,” he said.

At the same time, the SLF plans to provide loans to 670,000 students this year. Of that number, about 200,000 will be new loan recipients.

Tackling bad debts

Student Loans Fund is trying to recover money owed to it:

No of loan recipients: 4.5 million

No of defaulters: 2 million

Total amount of defaulters’ debts: Bt56 billion

Of the total defaulters, about 100,000 are in the process of negotiating their debts of Bt7 illion.

About 700,000 others are being prosecuted for failing to repay Bt35 billion.

SOURCE: Finance Ministry

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.

“The case has already been progressing,” Office of Higher Education Commission (Ohec) secretary-general Aporn Kaenvong disclosed yesterday.

She said Ohec forwarded the case to the OAG in September.

She was speaking about Dr Dolrudee Jumlongras, now an instructor in developmental biology at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine. Of over 5,000 Thai university lecturers who have received scholarships to further their studies in fields which have a shortage of teaching staff, Dolrudee is the only person who has violated the contract and refused to pay compensation. She has left her four guarantors to shoulder the huge debt.

“We believe the Office will take action against her before the statute of limitation expires on March 15,” Aporn said.

Aporn said that Ohec has been trying to force Dolrudee to pay Bt30-million compensation but it has been unable to locate any assets in Thailand that are in her name. One of the guarantors, Padet Phulwittayakij, has recently gone public about the fact that he has had to pay more than Bt2million because of Dolrudee’s default.

As Padet’s grievances have caught public and media attention, several agencies including her former employer the Mahidol University (MU) have now come forward to give assurances that they are taking action against Dolrudee.

Although Dolrudee is now in the United States, she must be feeling the growing pressure.

One of her guarantors said that Dolrudee had just sent an email repeating that she was still looking for a way to pay them and that she would like to talk.

“Please give me the best number and time for me to call you,” a part of her email said.

Padet said he had received a similar email from Dolrudee on Tuesday but did not think she would really make any repayment.

“Had she wanted to pay me back, she would have already wired some money,” he said.

Padet said he was now consulting a legal team about how to bring Dolrudee to justice.

Aporn said Dolrudee’s debts to the state were about Bt30 million plus interest, based on the conditions of the contract the former MU lecturer had signed to win the scholarship.

Via that scholarship, Dolrudee has got a master’s and a doctorate degree at Harvard.