FORMER Miss Singapore Universe Rachel Kum has plans to launch her own cosmetics line here soon, and she is determined not to let saucy photographs which made the news last year sully the brand image of her latest venture.

Last July, Ms Kum, who is now an aspiring entrepreneur and owner of Rachel K Cosmetics, had photographs of herself in various compromising positions splashed on the Internet.

They surfaced two months after she won the beauty pageant, whipping up fervent debate on whether she should be stripped of her title.

Redemption has now come in the form of an apology letter from the woman responsible for the leaked images, as well as an out-of-court settlement of some $12,000 in legal fees paid to Ms Kum, 25.

She had asked the culprit, Ms Chua Sim Bian, 19, to apologise and take down malicious content that the latter had posted online. Ms Kum also obtained a restraining order against Ms Chua.

In a phone interview yesterday, Ms Kum told my paper that Ms Chua had held a grudge against her ever since she refused the latter's attempts to forge a closer friendship.

The two met during the Miss Singapore Universe pageant last year, which Ms Chua designed brochures for.

Ms Chua accused Ms Kum of owing her money and harassed her using mobile text messages, according to legal documents.

Ms Kum explained that making a police report against Ms Chua and approaching her parents did not help.

"Her parents were belligerent, so we had no choice but to fight this as a civil matter," she said.

Representatives of Ms Kum's company sent an e-mail last Friday to citizen-journalism website Stomp, asking for the removal of the photographs.

These have since been removed, along with those on rachelkum.com, a website that Ms Chua admitted to buying the rights for.

Ms Chua had used the website to post defamatory comments about Ms Kum. The website has been taken down and its ownership is being transferred to Ms Kum.

Ms Chua has signed an apology letter admitting to publishing "multiple articles and posts online in various forums, blogs, social- networking sites and other websites" designed to "hurt and defame Ms Kum".

Ms Chua and Mr Lim Yongda, who sold her the domain, paid Ms Kum the compensation fees.

Ms Chua could not be reached for comment yesterday.

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