The Bhutanese Leading the way.
PM says no corruption found and asks for concrete proof or allegation
FM hints ESP client list leak came from EFC Committee of NA
Opposition Leader Dasho Pema Chewang (right) and MP Rinchen Wangdi (left)
The Opposition Party Member of Parliament and current Chair of the Economic and Finance Committee of the National Assembly, Rinchen Wangdi, called upon the Finance Minister Lekey Dorji to resign over the Anti-Corruption Commission’s (ACC) Economic Stimulus Program (ESP) investigation report.
He said, “From the Opposition party side since the Finance Minister is Chair of the ESP Steering Committee the biggest responsibility is on him. The directions, guidelines and monitoring are by the ESP Steering Committee and as FM and Chair of the ESP Steering Committee he should step down. In the civil service even if there is a small case then we will land in a corruption case. He should resign on moral grounds. In the case of other countries someone like him would have to resign.”
MP Rinchen said that ESP is public money. He said they have been pointing out issues from day one.
“When there was an anonymous person posting we asked ACC to look into it. Of the four cases there were three cases with major issues. In the earlier meet-the-press the FM said there are no issues and everything is as per rules and guidelines. Later when such a result comes out the issue is the public money of 700,000 people. When we get money, it is for the public. It is not okay when it comes in hands of a few people.”
The Opposition Leader Pema Chewang said the accountability has to be taken by the government of the day. He said ESP was to help the economy.
“As per the ACC there is no corruption but procedural lapses. I don’t know what is corruption. If corruption is nepotism and favoritism then this case should also be corruption. ACC is a constitutional body and we respect their findings but he said the Opposition is not satisfied.
The Opposition party said all loan amounts must be recovered with applicable interest and penalties, the Finance Minister is to be held accountable, an assessment be done of all other medium scale loans by Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) as directed by ACC and there be an investigation of any ‘undisclosed partners’ as mentioned in the ACC report.
Director Chencho of PMO and ESP Steering Committee Member
ESP Steering Committee member responds on accountability
ESP Steering Committee member and Director at the Prime Minister’s Office Chencho said ACC had not found any corruption in the four cases and in an indirect response to the Opposition party calling for the Finance Minister to step down by taking accountability, the Director elaborated on the chain of accountability.
He said in terms of accountability, the ESP Steering Committee’s responsibility is only strategy and oversight, but loans are with Financial Institutions (FIs) and since loans are under RMA and if loans are not given as per rules, then RMA will monitor it. He said FIs are accountable in giving loans and finally there is also accountability on those who take loans.
Director Chencho said ACC has said the first accountability is on those who took the loans and they have to give it back.
Secondly, RMA is to take administrative actions on banks and employees and the third accountability is on the RMA to look at all the loans. He said the fourth accountability is on ESP committee and in three months’ time a report has to be given.
“As soon as we got the ACC report on 19th December, within two days we started working on it and we will share the outcome within three months or earlier with the media and public too,” he added.
The Director said that within a short time of 12 months the chunk of ESP loans was given by 20 people hired by BDBL to 3,969 people who were eligible.
He said the ACC did not find influence used by people or collusion by bank staff and there is no criminal culpability.
Prime Minister Dasho Tshering Tobgay
PM says no corruption but loan diversion
The Prime Minister Dasho Tshering Tobgay said the ESP loans are not handled by the government but by Financial Institutions.
“One of the biggest problems faced by FIs while giving even general loans is that the money is frequently not used for the stated purpose, but other things like buying land, house, car , for holidays. Diversion of loan funds has always been an issue.
This has been found in the ESP loan and it is not just in ESP loans but in many other loans too. That is a different matter,” said the PM.
“If there is corruption, I have earlier said that people will be held accountable for that, but here ACC said there is no finding of corruption. What more can the government do? We asked ACC to investigate and ACC investigated,” added the PM.
He said most ESP loans are from BDBL and the media should ask BDBL about their process and how much checks they did while issuing ESP loans.
“You should also talk to ACC and find out which ministers they questioned and their process. They have done a thorough investigation. If some people don’t trust the ACC investigation, then I am worried,” said the PM.
The PM said he does not even require a concrete proof but just a concrete allegation saying on this instance on this loan this person or minister interfered and he said it will be their responsibility to investigate. “But there is no concrete allegation anywhere.”
“There is even no allegation. It is just broad strokes saying it is corrupt, corrupt and now the Opposition is asking the Finance Minister to resign. Give us evidence or give us just a concrete allegation so that we know you are being constructive,” said the PM.
“If the media has any concrete allegation please tell me. Even if the Opposition party has any concrete allegation, then please tell me. If they tell me then I will not leave it like this, but I will not take part in sensationalizing it. If you have concrete and constructive allegations, give it to me.”
The PM said just to continue to misrepresent what is happening is a grave disservice to many people working day and night going through project reports and having to tell people whose project reports do not qualify, that you don’t qualify for the loan, and that you have an NPL.
He said it is very painful to do that and they (loan officers) have had to say no to many such cases.
“It is easy to say yes and they have had to say no to many such cases and yet they continue to work hard in spite of all the investigations. Let’s help them also, and if you have concrete evidence or allegations let me know and this will be the biggest service you can do to ESP.”
He said that on the ESP loan he knows how important it is for the economy, farmers and small businesses and he also happens to know that not everybody will get these loans.
“I know it is attractive at 4% loan interest and everybody wants these loans and those who don’t get these loans are naturally upset. But as a country we should go ahead with these loans. It is important for our economy, to create jobs, growth and for our prosperity. In spite of this, there is baseless allegations and a continued determination to perpetuate, miscommunicate and misrepresent what is happening in ESP.”
He said the alternative is very simple. They can close ESP and use the remaining 10 bn of the 15 bn in development. “That is the easiest way but then our economy will not be benefitted by this very important program.”
Finance Minister Lekey Dorji
Finance Minister pledges his life
An emotional Finance Minister said that the NA EFC Committee had written to him in March 2025 asking for the detailed list of businesses and individuals who have availed the ESP loans.
He said as the Chairperson of the ESP Steering Committee he approved the request not knowing there was a privacy clause in the FSA Act which forbid sharing of loan details.
“It is not okay to know someone’s loan details. The privacy is protected by the FSA Act. I told BDBL to give it. It was given to the ESP Secretariat which gave it to the EFC Committee and you see who the EFC Committee members are. The next day they (BDBL) said the FSA Act does not allow it. I wrote to the EFC Committee Chair to maintain the privacy of the list of ESP beneficiaries. But then they sieved through the information looking only for PDP supporters. PDP supporters will get loans as more than 50% of the country supported us which is why we are in government. It was officially given to them (EFC Committee) and they are using it.”
Lyonpo alleged that they looked for only PDP supporters in the list and ignored others like former Finance Minister Namgay Tshering, and a former DPT MP.
“We asked them to share the loan details because we have nothing to hide.”
Lyonpo said at the time he had said in the media that ACC is looking into it and requested to wait for the outcome of the ACC investigation.
“Some anonymous accounts are even tagging and copying our donors and foreign governments asking why the money is being to the government, but is this wise? We are here for a short time but the nation remains.” said Lyonpo.
He said in the second government when BOIC was started with some ESP money, there was some controversy, and so that is why they decided all the loans will be routed through the banks.
The minister said the Opposition is trying to discredit him. He said the same Opposition will not say that there was moratorium on vehicle import and construction when this government came in.
“There was USD 596 million (mn) in the reserves and three days after we took over, we had to repay USD 203 mn and the reserve was around USD 300 mn and Constitutionally we require 603 mn and now that has gone up to USD 1.1 billion. I don’t expect the Opposition to say that.”
He said, “On unemployment they said it is 17% but it came down from 29% and will go down.”
Lyonpo said he thanked the Opposition for supporting the tax measures and in the earlier version the Finance Minister had a lot of discretionary powers but he said the main difference between poor and developed countries is that people in power have discretionary powers and so he opted to remove all of them in GST , Excise Act and Income Tax because they genuinely want the country to do well.
“In the next five years His Majesty said we should do something different. As the FM, I am in the middle of all this. We have 20,000 MW of projects to do and we are doing the negotiations. We have the Gyalsung project and GMC,” he added.
“My main mission all my life is integrity and my reputation and name are the most important thing for me and now they want to tarnish it. You say the Finance Minister cannot talk which is true as I cannot talk properly and give a flowery speech, but what I do is I guard my integrity seriously and I will give my life to protect that integrity,” said an emotional Finance Minister.
Lyonpo said people wanted vehicle quotas like from the first government but he said they can’t give and if he gave then he would also have got. He said they wanted Constituency Development Grant but he objected and said they can’t do it. He said there were so many things like this.
“Then they said we should put the Pay Commission and do it fast but we can’t right now. Even if you are in my place, you will do the same thing as this country has to be sustainable.”
“Last time we said we will take moral authority and step down but here the ACC a Constitutional Body, has pointed clear lapses but the ESP Steering Committee and Committee Chair has not been implicated. All my life you talk to anywhere I worked as a consultant, in Bhutan Telecom, guarding my name and reputation has been my aim and now that they want to do this. I don’t take it personally though.”
