The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) will again discuss the case of former finance minister Namgay Dorji’s alleged encroachment into a state land in Taba with the Office of the Attorney General (OAG). The case was forwarded to the OAG in 2019 by the ACC which was dropped by the OAG last year.
According to the ACC, the former finance minister allegedly converted a ten decimal government land into private ownership in 2001. The ACC found out that the ten decimal land at Taba under plot 164 in the name of Namgay Dorji was once recorded as government land and other time as Thramless.
As per the investigation report, Namgay Dorji’s sister Dechen Wangmo bought a 20 decimal land bearing Plot number 166 from aum Bakhum in 1987. In 1993, seven decimal land bearing plot number 164 from the 20 decimal land was said to have been transferred to another sister of Namgay Dorji, Leki Wangmo. However, there was no record of documents and transactions.
Leki Wangmo later had given the supposed seven decimal land to Namgay Dorji.
During the NSC survey in 2000, Namgay Dorji allegedly measured a state land identifying it as a seven decimal land given by his sister.
As per the commission, the detailed survey of 1988 showed that plot 164 which was adjacent to plot 166 was completely a different plot and separate from the mother plot. This as per investigation, is encroachment into state land. The land was transferred to his name in 2001.
Namgay Dorji also processed a no objection letter from the residents in Taba stating that Leki Wangmo’s seven decimal land identified as plot 164 is registered as ancestral land.
The OAG after seeking conclusive clarifications from the land commission concluded that plot 164 was never a state land or vacant land without a Thram as concluded by the ACC. The separation of the seven decimal land from the 20 decimal land and change in the shape of the land was due to the demarcation of an access road between the two plots.
However, ACC wrote to OAG after the OAG dropped the case. ACC claims that the OAG’s conclusion that plot 164 was never a state land is based on the land commission’s assessment which is actually based on the transaction point of view. The commission also mentioned Leki Wangmo admitting to having known that plot 164 was a state land through one of the residents. There was also no evidence of how Leki Wangmo’s seven decimal land was measured in plot 164 during the 2001 NSC survey. As per ACC, the OAG has not referred to the witnesses and corroborative facts submitted to the office.
ACC during its investigation also found out that the authenticity of the no-objection certificate is questionable.
Tshering Zam/Kinley Dem
