KUALA LUMPUR:Television personality Awal Ashaari has filed a counter claim against an interior design firm, seeking RM750,000 in damages from the company for failing to carry out renovation work at his residence.

Awal, whose real name is Ahmad Awaluddin Ashaari, 39, filed the counter claim against Naz Empire Sdn Bhd through Messrs Azlan Razak Associates on Dec 30, last year, to get back the RM100,000 deposit he paid to the company and the RM650,000 of repair cost, benefits and other reliefs deemed appropriate by the court.

In his lawsuit, the actor claimed that he had expressed his intention to Naz Empire to withdraw the offer to renovate a house in Sunway Damansara but accepted the offer for a renovation work for his other house in Sri Hartamas here.

“Naz Empire had agreed to sponsor the cost of woodwork for the master bedroom of the house at Sri Hartamas and also offered to sponsor part of the cost of kitchen renovation work and in return, the company suggested to me to promote the firm on social media after all the work is completed,” Awal said in the claim.

Awal said on July 25, 2019, both parties had signed a contract, in which Awal appointed Naz Empire as contractor for the renovation of the dry kitchen, family room, living room, wet kitchen, dressing room, foyer and additional kitchen as well the sponsored renovation works involving four bedrooms at the house in Sri Hartamas which were to be completed by Feb 8, 2020.

However, on Oct 21, 2019, Awal found that the kitchen renovation work was not going as agreed and Naz Empire also failed to attend the appointment set to discuss the matter prompting him to send a message to the company asking it to stop the work after his efforts to solve it were to no avail.

“I gave Naz Empire two options, either to complete the work without receiving additional payment or to stop the work and return the RM80,000 advance from the RM100,000 deposit given to the company.

“Naz Empire then agreed to stop the work and continue to complete the sponsored work. However, Naz Empire still failed to provide the design sketch, the size and floor plan, instead the company only showed the sketch through its computer,” he said.

Awal claimed that, he had once again asked the company to return the RM80,000 advance paid as compensation to appoint a new contractor to complete the work, but the company allegedly often avoided answering his calls or replying to messages sent through the WhatsApp application.

Meanwhile, Awal’s lawyer Azlan Abdul Razak when contacted said the court set Jan 27 for case management.

On Nov 13 last year, Naz Empire filed a RM3 million defamation suit against Awal and two others for allegedly tarnishing the company’s reputation along with its owner’s in connection with renovation work at the celebrity’s new residence.

Naz Empire Sdn Bhd as the plaintiff, named Awal as the first defendant, and Nawal Yasmin Mat Noh and Muhammad Hilmi Zulkifli as the second and third defendants

According to the plaintiff, Nawal Yasmin and Muhammad Hilmi run a joint business under the name SomethingBorrowed By Nawal Enterprise and are accused of frequently sharing photos or videos related to home renovations or decorations on their Instagram social media site, @ houseofsix.my.

-- BERNAMA