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Phajo Nidup owes an estimated Nu 1 billion to various banks and private individuals.
Of the above, Phajo is liable to pay the principal and interest payment of Nu. 657.759 million (mn) to various banks. There is then loan interest and penalty amounting to Nu. 129.154 mn. Phajo also owes a sum of Nu.342.186 mn to different private individuals excluding the liabilities of previous judgments pending before the Bench for enforcement.
Phajo is set to receive Nu. 49.233 mn from various parties.
The Enforcement Unit under the Thimphu District Court is actively consulting with stakeholders and all parties involved in the matter to explore further options for resolving the outstanding amounts.
For instance, the Court has offered private parties, many of whom are victims or creditors the option to accept settlement through unencumbered land owned by Phajo Nidup.
For lands and properties under mortgage, the unit has already held multiple consultations with legal representatives from financial institutions to begin the auction process, in accordance with Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) guidelines.
Several mortgaged assets have already been seized and are expected to be auctioned soon, as financial institutions (FIs) move to recover their dues under court directives.
The repayment order will be based on the chronological registration of mortgages as recorded with authorities such as the Thromde, Dungkhag, and Dzongkhag land records, as outlined in the court judgment.
This is important as Phajo mortgaged the same land several times with different FIs and in some cases within different branches of the same FI.
Most of Phajo’s lands fall within Phuentsholing Thromde. He has a total of 25 Thrams registered in his name (individual and joint) and 35 Thrams registered in the name of other individuals – properties that were already purchased by Phajo Nidup.
The court has also directed Phajo Nidup, convicted for 275 offenses by the Supreme Court, to arrange payment of fines of Nu 254,875 corresponding to his non-felony offenses by 21st August 2025.
Failure to comply within the stipulated timeframe may lead to the recovery of the outstanding fines through funds held by the Court in relation to separate civil proceedings. The fines are in lieu of non-felony offenses of 5 years, 7 months and 29 days.
This enforcement action follows the Supreme Court’s judgment on 21st May 2025, which allowed Phajo Nidup the option to pay fines in lieu of imprisonment related to his non-felony convictions.
Phajo Nidup remains in detention since his second arrest on 21st April 2022 with his bank accounts frozen and properties seized. Due to his lack of income and ongoing detention, the Court has sought alternative means to ensure compliance with the fine payment order.
According to the Enforcement Unit, any failure by Phajo to meet the August deadline could lead to the seizure of funds currently held in a judiciary escrow account. These funds were awarded to Phajo in separate civil cases, including recoveries made from his debtors.
Background
The case, which reached over multiple court proceedings, involved 275 criminal counts, including 221 felonies and 54 non-felonies such as forgery, bribery, deceptive practices, solicitation, and tampering with official documents.
While the felony convictions amounting to over 15 years of non-compoundable prison time must be served, the remaining sentence related to non-felony offenses was deemed compoundable by the Supreme Court.
The case also involved FI officials, Phuentsholing Thromde staff, NLC, RSTA, Dungkhag and RBP officials who were convicted.
As the deadline nears, all eyes remain on whether Phajo Nidup will comply with the fine payments, and a more important issue is also if Phajo’s properties can be auctioned successfully to recover the loans and amounts owed to other parties.
