Art dealer sues local agent

[Sun Wukong]

Singapore
Feb 8, 2010

Art dealer sues local agent

Claims 25 artefacts after ending intimate relationship

<!-- by line --> By Khushwant Singh
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Subhash Kapoor (left) of Art of the Past is claiming that Ms Paramaspry Punusamy (right) is refusing to return 15 artefacts as well as US$15,000 (S$21,000) in sales proceeds after their break-up two years ago. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN

<!-- story content : start --> LOVERS once, two art dealers are now battling it out in the High Court over hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of antiques and artefacts. Managing director Subhash Kapoor of Art of the Past is taking on Ms Paramaspry Punusamy, the proprietor of Jazmin Asian Arts. The 61-year-old American national is claiming that the Singaporean is refusing to return 15 artefacts as well as US$15,000 (S$21,000) in sales proceeds after their break-up two years ago.

He said that his firm, which had an office in Madison Avenue in New York, would supply Ms Paramaspry antiques and art pieces for sale. Items not sold should be returned but she is not complying with their agreement after they split up. The total value of the artefacts, which are from Cambodia, Thailand and Indonesia, is not stated but the retail price of 10 items came up to more than US$220,000. Ms Paramaspry, 54, who is also known as Grace and Indira, is maintaining that some of these items were gifts from Mr Kapoor. She is prepared to return nine items if he gives up some 20 of her artefacts that are in his hands.

 

[Sun Wukong]

Kept biz, pleasure apart

Singapore
Home > Breaking News > Singapore > Story
Feb 9, 2010

Kept biz, pleasure apart

<!-- by line --> By Khushwant Singh

Mr Subhash Kapoor (above), 61, the managing director of New York-based Art of the Past, said he had been intimate with Ms Paramaspry Punusamy (second picture), 54, since 1998 but never mixed business with pleasure. -- ST PHOTOS: AZIZ HUSSIN

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THE art dealer is accusing an ex-lover of refusing to return hundred of thousands of dollars worth of antiques out of spite. Continuing his testimony on Tuesday, Mr Subhash Kapoor, 61, the managing director of New York-based Art of the Past, said he had been intimate with Ms Paramaspry Punusamy, 54, since 1998 but never mixed business with pleasure.

He met the Singaporean art dealer at an art show in San Francisco where she had a booth selling Chinese posters. Although they were in a relationship until 2007, the American citizen said that he kept his business and social life apart, even maintaining two email addresses to keep corporate and personal correspondence separate. On holidays, the couple did no business and on business trips, they did no sightseeing, he said. He also denied giving any antiques, saying that he only gave women chocolate and flowers.

Ms Paramaspry, the proprietor of Jazmin Asian Arts at Tanglin Shopping Centre, is maintaining that the relationship was never a business one. Instead, they had done favours for each other like selling each other's wares and lending money and equipment to one another without keeping proper accounts. But when he ended the relationship, he demanded artefacts that he had given her or which belonged to her.

 

[General Veers]

Dealer must return artefacts

Singapore
Mar 18, 2010

Dealer must return artefacts

<!-- by line --> By Khushwant Singh
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In an attempt to get his antiques back, Mr Subhash Kapoor (above, right), 61, took Ms Paramaspry Punusamy (above, left) to the High Court and succeeded. -- ST PHOTO: AZIZ HUSSIN

<!-- story content : start --> A Singaporean art dealer, who was in a relationship with an American art dealer, kept antiques worth hundreds of thousands of dollars after their affair soured two years ago. In an attempt to get these back, Mr Subhash Kapoor, 61, took her to the High Court and succeeded. Delivering his verdict on Thursday, Judicial Commissioner Steven Chong said he agreed with Ms Paramaspry Punusamy's lawyer that the case should have never come to court as it really was about a break-up between two lovers. The judge also noted that while both parties were unable to produce much in documentation to prove ownership of the 19 contested antiques, Mr Kapoor, 61, had called on three art traders from Bangkok to testify that they have sold some of the pieces to him. Ms Paramaspry, 54, did not produce any witnesses during the three-day hearing heard last month. Ms Punusamy, the proprietor of Jazmin Asian Arts at Tanglin Shopping Centre, was also ordered to pay costs for the proceedings. Neither she nor Mr Kapoor, who is the managing director of the antiquities firm Art of the Past in New York, were in court for the judgement.