The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has finished its investigation into the Monument Fee corruption case at Punakha Dzong.
A total of 47 people are being charged, of which 40 are guides, 4 are ticket officials and three are RBP personnel at the gate.
The charges for the guides are active bribery and participation in an offence. The police personnel are being charged with bribery and abuse of function, and the ticket officials also face similar charges.
The amounts involved range from Nu 250 to Nu 400,000. The modus operandi was the resale of sold tickets and then pocketing the money among themselves.
According to a source, more than 600 guides are involved just in the Taktsang case, which is currently under investigation. ACC has uncovered evidence that these guides took money in splitting the Nu 1,000 monument fee.
It is likely that similar bribery and participation in an offence charges will apply.
This does not even include the Chimi Lhakhang and Changangkha Lhakhang cases where more guides could be involved.
The above is a problem because if the guides get convicted in court, then they will lose their guide license.
The Tourism Regulations 2022 does not have any cooling period, which could well mean not being given a license again, or it may also be interpreted that they can come back after a while depending on the nature of offence.
The loss of more than 600 guides from just two monument fee case sites may come as a major hit for the tourism industry.
According to figures with the Guide Association of Bhutan (GAB), there are only 2,400 guides in the country who have been assessed plus another 1,000 who have not undergone assessment.
The main fear is that if seasoned and experienced guides lose their licenses in the cases above.
A source said that the majority of those involved in the Monument Fees case should be those who came with Indian tourists via Phuenthsoling or via walk in clients, as in other cases, tour groups already pay the monument fees in advance to the tour operator who expects the fee receipts from the guides.
Given the numbers involved, it is likely that ACC and the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) will have to sit together and discuss on the way forward.
In the Taktsang case, initially investigated by RBP, 33 police personnel were involved from Paro between the ranks of Chuma and Drim Gom but no officers were involved. The police personnel were all terminated with no benefits. The RBP bank record investigation shows that some police personnel benefitted by Nu 9,000 on the lower end and others got Nu 170,000 on the higher end.
The master minds in the Taktsang case, according to the RBP investigation were the guides, as they are the ones who took the Nu 1,000 entry fee from all tourists and if they had money for 10 tickets, they would only buy five and share the money with the police personnel who were supposed to check the tickets and also the ticket counter officials appointed by the Dzongkhag. Sometimes smaller amounts were given to the drivers too.
RBP found numerous transactions of small amounts between the police personnel, 377 guides and the Dzongkhag ticket officials.
While the police could track the bank transactions, it could not get hold of any cash shared between them.
The Taktsang case was given to ACC. The RBP investigation took action against the RBP personnel but it did not call the guides. The ACC investigation involves the guides and others, and so ACC found more guides involved.
RBP completed its investigation of the monument fees in Chimi Lhakhang in October 2024 against four DeSuups of which two are male and two are female. RBP found Nu 21.240 mn not accounted for. ACC will dig deeper, and see if more people like guides, etc., are involved in this case too.
We often say that everyone is doing the same thing, what’s wrong with that. This mentality leads people to believe it’s ethical. I’m sure some individuals are innocent in this. Because if they don’t do it you become an odd man in the company. They think you are not smart to do that. Who knows some experienced senior guides who have been doing this for a long time may advise or even pressure their juniors to follow the same practices. Whose know they may teach their juniors that this is what is done formulating as if it’s kind of rule to new guides.
May everyone take this as a lesson and never get involve in such malpractices in the future. May you hold integrity as one of the highest priority in life.
Prayers..