Haa District Court sentenced the fuel depot manager of Bhutan Oil Distributor in Haa to one year three months in prison. The court also sentenced a fuel attendant to 3 years and one month in prison.
They were sentenced for criminal misappropriation of property and official misconduct. They will also have to refund over Nu 2.64 million to the Tashi Group of Companies.
The misuse of the fund happened in 2016, when the manager went on leave, entrusting the administrative responsibilities to the fuel attendant. But the court judgement says the manager did not take permission from the organization to handover her responsibilities to the fuel attendant, which led to the misuse of fund.
Office of the Attorney General (OAG) says the two convicts have drawn a mutual agreement regarding the misused amount before the case came to the limelight. As per the agreement, the fuel attendant will have to pay the misappropriated amount of over Nu 2.64 million. But the OAG defended that the manager should also be held responsible for unofficially handing over the responsibilities to the fuel attendant.
The court therefore decided that the manager will have to pay one third of the total amount, which comes to over Nu 882,000. The fuel attendant will have to pay over Nu 1.7 million.
The court has given them 30 days to refund the money. Failure to pay the money will lead to the enhancement of their prison term. The judgement was passed on August 4.
The OAG forwarded the case to the court in April last year.
