Three women convicted by the Punakha District Court of breach of trust, deceptive practice and forgery appealed to the High Court, yesterday. The district court, Thursday, sentenced them along with four others to a minimum of six months to more than 31 years in prison for their involvement in a vehicle hiring scam.
The three appellants, Choki Wangmo, Pema Zangmo and Tshering Deki were handed down a prison sentence of 24 and half years to more than 31 years by the district court. The sentencing was based on the number of vehicles they sold deceptively. For each vehicle they sold, the court sentenced them to three and a half years. They are now requesting a concurrent sentencing reasoning that the crimes are similar. In concurrent sentencing, instead of serving each sentence one after another, they can serve all the sentences at the same time.
According to their appeal letter, the duration of one month to pay the affected parties is also less. They say it would be difficult for them to arrange the money within this period since they are in custody without an option to pay instead of imprisonment.
The court ordered them to refund at least Nu 1.5 M to more than Nu 3.1 M within a month from the day of the judgment. It also includes hiring charges. The vehicles were also returned to their rightful owners.
Claiming to be working independently, seven of them hired 26 vehicles from different individuals and sold them by forging documents. Most of the convicts were arrested in October last year.
Changa Dorji, Punakha
Edited by Sonam
