Two former officials of the Ministry of Education and a contractor are implicated for alleged bribery and fraudulent practices in the construction of Minjey Middle Secondary School in Lhuentse. The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) investigated the case and at present, it is being reviewed by the Office of the Attorney General (OAG).
One of the education officials was the then Chief Engineer of the School Planning and Building Division of the education ministry and the other was Site Engineer on contract with the ministry.
The investigation revealed collusion and bribery between the contractor and two officials.
According to the ACC report, the contractor had allegedly bribed the then Chief Engineer with Nu 640,000 and the Site Engineer with Nu 120,000.
The officials had certified insurance claim and refrained from ordering the contractor to rectify the damages caused by a landslide in 2013 despite knowing that the contractor was already paid full insurance.
The Defect Liability Period in the final handing-taking document was also reduced by nine months.
They are now facing an offence of active and passive bribery, omission amounting to an abuse of function and obstruction of justice.
The construction of Minjey Middle Secondary School began in 2010 and was completed in 2014. The case was forwarded by the Royal Audit Authority (RAA) last year.
The ACC recommends the prosecutor to seek the refund. If found guilty, the contractor is liable to refund Nu 2.1 M along with penalty. And the two officials have to refund the bribe amount.
