More than a thousand donors contributed over Nu 500,000 to a recent fake donation drive. The fundraising effort was aimed at gathering funds for a supposed stem cell transplant for a 14-year-old boy in Kolkata, India. The donations ranging from Nu 5 to Nu 10,000 were donated by people from various parts of the country. According to the Department of Law and Order, out of the total amount collected, more than Nu 22,000 have already been used by the donation seeker.
The individual seeking donation had initiated the fundraising drive on Facebook on 21st February, last week.
As soon as the Department of Law and Order Knew about the case, the Bank of Bhutan’s Financial Intelligence Department froze the account on Thursday in accordance with the Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism Act of Bhutan, 2018.
“Regarding the money that has been collected by someone by telling a fake story and forging a document, it is ideally appropriate to give the money back to the donors. Since there are administrative complications in it because few amounts have been already used by the donation seeker, it will be subject to discussion in the office or we might as well feel that it is appropriate to use it for other applicants who visit our office to seek for the donation drive,” said Karma Dorji, the chief program officer of Department of Law and Order.
The Department of Law and Order started the Management of Crowd Funding and Donation Drive in June 2021. Since then, they have given approvals to 18 applicants to raise funds for medical treatment. Among these, nine have completed their treatment while the others are currently undergoing treatment.
“To curb and prevent people from engaging in fake donation drives, I think the approvable system we have put in place right now in itself is one of the mechanisms to ensure that the people do not indulge in fake donation drives. But having said that we could also look into other avenues such as leveraging the use of ICT in terms of ensuring the donation drives are done more fairly and transparently. And also ensure that people do not indulge in fake donation drives,” added the chief program officer.
The department found that some individuals have been faking documents and raising funds. Three cases, including the recent one, were reported to the department in 2021.
The department said it would forward the case to the police for investigation.
Karma Wangdi
Edited by Sonam Pem
