Home Minister Sherab Gyeltshen along with four officials of the Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan Limited has appealed to the Supreme Court today. They are appealing to the Supreme Court after the Larger Bench of the High Court, on March 18, affirmed the High Court’s judgment convicting them of a false vehicle insurance claim.
According to a source, the Home Minister is appealing to the Supreme Court on three grounds. The appellant claims the application for insurance after the accident and the claim for the payment were not a false statement. The insurance amount was released by the RICBL as per the estimation made by the State Trading Corporation of Bhutan Limited.
Earlier, the Larger Bench of the High Court stated that as per the Home Minister’s confession to the Anti-Corruption Commission, he refilled the engine oil in Monggar due to leakage. There was also a contradiction of the Lamperi accident date and the accident intimation letter. This is refuted by the appellant that the refilling of engine oil in Monggar has no connection with the accident in Lamperi. The refilling of engine oil in Monggar happened about a month ago before the accident at Lamperi on 9th June 2016. The source also said that refilling the engine oil did not mean leakage and that the court misinterpreted.
The appellant also claims that the car in question has a comprehensive insurance scheme since 4th June 2016.
According to sources, some of the RICBL officials denied the charges of misuse of position and they are said to have worked as per the rules. It was said that neither did they commit any corruption nor did they work to gain personal benefit.
Kinley Dem/Tshering Zam
