The Phuentsholing Dungkhag Court sentenced the former regional manager of Bhutan Industrial Gas (BIG) to nine years in prison for embezzlement. The court found Bumpa Wangmo guilty of diverting Nu 3.36 M of company funds into her personal bank accounts over a period of five years. Bhutan Industrial Gas, a subsidiary of Drukda Private Limited, imports commercial LPG cylinders from the Indian Oil Corporation. The judgment was delivered last week.
According to the judgment, in November 2018, Bumpa Wangmo issued an official letter to the Hindustan Construction Company, directing the firm to deposit payments into her personal bank account, citing changes in company rules.
Following this instruction, the Hindustan Construction Company deposited company-related payments into the former regional manager’s personal accounts maintained with Druk Punjab National Bank and the Bank of Bhutan.
The court noted that these transactions were carried out without the knowledge or authorisation of either the Phuentsholing regional office or the company’s head office in Thimphu.
Bumpa Wangmo served as the regional manager of the Bhutan Industrial Gas in Phuentsholing from 2014 until September 2023.
According to the judgment, this clearly established both the guilty act and the guilty intent required to establish embezzlement.
Based on the amount involved, the court ruled that the offence constitutes embezzlement of funds in the private sector under the Anti-Corruption Act of Bhutan and graded it as a second-degree felony.
The court also ordered her to repay the full embezzled amount to Bhutan Industrial Gas within six months from the date of the judgment.
Tashi Dekar
Edited by Tandin Phuntsho
