The Anti-Corruption Commission imposed over Nu 2 M as penalties for late and non-asset declarations for the declaration year 2022. This is according to the ACC’s annual report 2022-2023. According to the report, the online asset declaration system has enabled the commission to gather a lot of data from the declarants regarding their assets, income and liabilities.
According to the report, the commission imposed penalties of Nu 2.4 M.
Of this, the commission has been able to collect Nu 2.1 M.
Nu 0.31 M were from late declarants and Nu 1.79 M were from non-declarants.
The commission imposes a fine of Nu 125 per day for both late declarants and non-declarants.
342 individuals were imposed fines for late declaration. 36 of them were heads of the agencies which included Members of Parliament, Gups, Religious Organisation Chairman, and Corporation Chief Executive Officers. And the rest were employees under the heads of agencies.
According to the report, 22 individuals did not pay the penalty. The list was forwarded to the Royal Audit Authority for action.
The commission has waived penalties for 33 late declarants. The ACC report stated that penalties were waived where justifications for non-compliance were found justifiable.
The ACC imposed fines on 48 for failing to declare, of which five did not pay the penalties. The case of those who did not pay the fines has been shared with the ACC’s Legal Division for possible legal action.
For the year 2022, more than 25,700 people declared their assets. Of it, over 1,300 declarants acquired new immovable properties and nearly 700 individuals acquired movable properties.
The report also states that officials in P1 and above or equivalent positions acquired more compared to the lower-ranked officials.
The objective of the Asset Declaration is to detect and prevent illicit enrichment and promote public trust through accountability among others.
Tashi Yangden
Edited by Tshering Zam
