The Panbang Dungkhag Court has sentenced the Goshing Gup of Zhemgang to eight years in prison for embezzlement of public funds. The Gup who is currently suspended has also been ordered to restitute more than Nu 4 M. The case had already gone through the lower courts and reached the Supreme Court in May but it was sent back to the Dungkhang Court. The Supreme Court had stated that a proper investigation on one charge was not carried out.
As per the Civil and Criminal Procedure Code of Bhutan, the appellate court may remand or send back a case to the lower court with instructions.
As per the order, the lower courts did not do a proper evaluation of the fuel-related embezzlement charges.
In 2019, the Panbang Dungkhang Court sentenced the suspended Gup to over ten years in prison. He had been found guilty on ten counts including embezzlement, solicitation, fraudulent claim, and other official misconduct. The Dungkhag court also ordered him to restitute almost Nu 3 M.
After it was appealed, the case was forwarded directly to the high court from the dungkhag court. This was to avoid conflict of interest because the case was prosecuted by the Zhemgang Drangpon while he was in the Office of the Attorney General.
In May, the High Court sentenced the Gup to eight years in prison for embezzlement of public funds. The High Court had convicted him of embezzling public funds by inflating hiring charges and fuel procurement receipts. He was also found guilty of embezzling public funds by keeping fake wage records. The court ordered him to restitute almost Nu 2.9 M.
In the latest verdict, the Panbang Dungkhang court also sentenced six employees of Bhutan Oil Corporation of Gelephu depot involved in the embezzlement case from two months to two years six months in prison. However, they can pay in lieu of their prison terms.
All six of them had been acquitted earlier due to lack of evidence. Four of them had been acquitted by the Dungkhag court in December 2019. And the remaining two were acquitted by the high court in May this year.
The Anti-Corruption Commission investigated the case in 2016 following a complaint alleging the gup of embezzling funds meant for the construction of a gewog connectivity road.
Pema Seldon Tshering
