The Bhutanese Leading the way.
It has now emerged that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and External Trade (MoFAET) failed to alert or inform the Department of Immigration (DoI) to stop the former BNB Bank teller charged with embezzling Nu 7.9 million (mn) from leaving for Australia via Paro Airport.
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG), in a letter addressed to the Foreign Secretary, wrote to the Foreign Ministry on 20th December 2024 citing section 109 of the Anti-Corruption Act of Bhutan to impound the travel documents of the accused teller.
According to the Foreign Ministry it said that as per the OAG’s letter the Department of Protocol blacklisted the passport of the former teller from 20th December 2024 to 20th December 2029 for five years.
Blacklisting, however, will only block the individual from processing or renewing a new passport, but it does not invalidate the current passport carried by the former teller and it does not stop her from traveling.
In a crucial error the Foreign Ministry failed to inform the Department of Immigration to block the passport number from leaving the country via Paro Airport.
The OAG letter to the Foreign Ministry referencing the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) letter asking OAG to impound her travel documents said the accused is involved in a corruption case. It said that ensuring her physical presence in the trial is imperative and requested the ministry to impound the personal travel documents of the accused.
The paper checked with the Immigration records at the Paro Airport and in Thimphu and no alert was given by the Foreign Ministry.
Meanwhile, the OAG managed to contact the former teller in Australia via email and a source said the former teller accused the OAG of not notifying her not to leave the country which the OAG does not accept. The OAG informed her that her case is about to be charged and asked her to come back.
The former teller said she cannot come back for another three months as she is enrolled in a course and has to do her medical. With it clear that the former teller is not coming back for the case as required of her, the OAG is now expected to charge her in absentia in the court in the coming week.
The ACC said that on 19th February 2024 when the accused was released from custody, the ACC made her sign a Bail and Bond Undertaking which she among other things committed to not leave Bhutan without the permission of the Commission and seek permission in writing to leave Bhutan.
In the undertaking the father of the accused stood as her surety taking the responsibility to produce her when required before ACC, OAG and the court. However, with the accused now in Australia there is legal action expected to be taken against the father who stood as surety.
In November 2023 the BNB Paro branch had found that a teller there had embezzled Nu 7.9 million (mn) over a period of time from the daily cash handed over to her for transactions. She allegedly created some fake withdrawals to cover up for her withdrawals and she used the money in her business. The bank found out about this and got back the money within two days and terminated her.
The ACC investigated her case and confirmed embezzlement and abuse of function. The ACC had gotten a Paro court order to seize her passport for 108 days but the court did not give an extension to the ACC beyond that and so on 7th June 2024 the ACC gave her back the passport and revoked the impounding of her travel documents.
On 19th February 2024 when the accused was released from custody, the ACC made her sign a Bail and Bond Undertaking which she among other things committed to not leave Bhutan without the permission of the Commission and seek permission in writing to leave Bhutan.
The OAG took around 6 months to review the case and it decided that the case is fit for prosecution and prepared the charges accordingly.
In the meantime, the accused processed her visa to go to Australia to drop her two children there to the father who works there.
She wrote an application to the ACC in December 2024 requesting for permission to go to Australia to drop her children and that she would return promptly and be available for any hearings and summons.
The ACC as per a letter sent to the OAG on 19th December 2024 denied her request and the ACC alerted the OAG saying that a mere denial of request may not prevent her from leaving the country.
The Commission asked OAG’s intervention to take appropriate legal measures to impound her travel documents either by obtaining an injunction or a temporary restraining order from the Court pursuant to the relevant provisions of the CCPC, pending the outcome of the case.
The OAG then wrote to the Foreign Ministry and the rest is history.
The accused said that in her meetings with the OAG, they never explicitly told her not to travel but they kept saying that meetings will have to be held on her case and a decision will be given later.
However, here the OAG denied her account and said it was made very clear to the accused and her father who came together to seek permission for travel and later also her brother that she cannot travel as it is a criminal case and she may not come back once she travels out. The OAG said they have multiple eyewitnesses of OAG officials when this was made clear to her and her family members.
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) was about to charge her in court when they could no longer find her.
