The Office of Attorney General (OAG) has asked the Bhutan National Bank Limited (BNBL) to pay Nu 25 M in restitution to the Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan Limited (RICBL) for honouring forged, blank and self-cheques.
Eleven tellers and authorizers working with the BNBL are charged with omission amounting to an abuse of function in the RICBL Paro embezzlement case.
They have been found to have passed cheques that are forged and making payment to main accused without verifying and the authorizer’s signature.
According to BNBL banking experts, if the amount is more than Nu 10,000, the cheque has to be verified by the chief teller and authorized by the authorizer, according to the bank’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOP).
During the cross-examination yesterday, the tellers and authorizers said the BNBL management has not provided the employees with SOPs and there is a practice of making payment by the teller upon the request of the authorizer or chief teller when they are out of the station.
The imperfect cheques honoured by BNB amount to over Nu 25 M.
According to prosecutors, the restitution is to make BNBL take responsibility and accountability. Despite many embezzlement cases with BNBL, this is the first time the OAG asked BNBL to refund.
Including the main accused, there are 22 individuals charged in the Nu 140 M RICBL embezzlement case.
The OAG says the alleged crime was committed between 2012 to mid-2015.
