As the 12 weeks gap from the first dose comes to a close by 29th June there is a growing sense of anxiety in the government to get hold of the second dose of AstraZeneca vaccines. The anxiety is all the more given a much more infectious strain that has …
Read More »OAG makes the Judiciary both the victim and the adjudicator in the Penjore case
The ‘Penjore Penjore’ defamation case will be one of the biggest tests of the credibility and wisdom of the judiciary in recent times. This is because the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) wittingly or unwittingly has made the Judiciary the main victim in the case alleging that Penjore has …
Read More »Despite OAG’s claims RBP says it found no sedition in Penjore’s posts
The 6th May press release of the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) said that there is a prima facie case of defamation (section 317) and libel (section 320) charges against Penjore, but at the same time it also included sedition under section 331 (9). In the penal code section …
Read More »ACC halts Gypsum corruption investigation but says may reactivate case if new info comes
A lot of the corruption allegations and prices centered around Nepal but a ACC team never left for Nepal ACC used information from one of the accused traders in Nepal to find out Gypsum prices From the beginning, it was clear that the cross border nature of allegations of corruption …
Read More »OAG’s press release on Freedom of Speech fails to stand the test of Free Speech
The Office of the Attorney General on 3rd June issued a 3-page press release titled ‘Freedom of Speech and Rule of Law,’ giving its view on freedom of speech, defamation, the Penjore case and its own powers. The highly legal language of the release soon had many people scratching their …
Read More »PM says Penjore has not defamed Govt but will not restrain OAG on defamation case
NA Human Rights Committee to review the case In a clear statement the Prime Minister Dasho (Dr) Lotay Tshering said that as far as he knows Penjore has not done anything against or defamed the government, the cabinet ministers and their agencies. Lyonchhen also made it clear for the second …
Read More »Bhutan may get AstraZeneca vaccines from USA in the second round
The Bhutanese in a telephonic press conference asked the US State Department Coordinator for Global COVID-19 Response, Gayle E. Smith, about what had happened to Bhutan’s request for around half a million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine, when it’s FDA would approve its 60 million AstraZeneca doses for export and …
Read More »ACC’s incomplete and shoddy investigation in the Gypsum case
It was always evident that the ACC’s investigation of corruption allegations around Gypsum would be its most difficult case, and this paper said as much when they started their investigation. The reason being that this was ACC’s first attempt at a cross border investigation and all the main information, wrong …
Read More »I was treated like a terrorist for exercising my freedom of speech: Penjore
After spending 16 days in jail the thing that pains Penjore, 55 the most is that despite serving in the government (1990 to 2012) in the Agriculture Ministry where he set up the Central Machinery Unit in Bumthang and also helped set up regional branches in Trashigang and Gelephu, and …
Read More »Despite rising COVID cases both Party Presidents to campaign in two bye-elections
On the 16th of April evening Bhutan got a rude awakening when the first community cases were detected from Phuentsholing as a mother and son tested positive from the community and 3 frontliners on quarantine duty also tested positive. At the time Bhutan had 941 cases with only 64 active …
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