The Supreme Court saw 15 appeals from the Phajo Nidup related bank and civil cases from the High Court.
The Supreme Court has fully affirmed seven High Court judgments. Additionally, six cases were withdrawn by the appellants, and one case remains pending.
Of the fully affirmed seven High Court judgments Phajo Nidup is liable to pay a cumulative sum of Nu. 189.406 mn to various parties including banks. -Conversely, he is set to receive Nu. 49.233 mn from various parties.
A primary ground for appeal by Phajo Nidup centered on his dissatisfaction with the High Court’s decision concerning the sale or auction of his properties. Phajo contended that these properties should be valued at current market rates rather than following the Royal Monetary Authority (RMA) procedures. However, the Supreme Court has fully affirmed the ruling of the High Court in this regard.
These rulings are part of a larger series of cases involving Phajo Nidup. Previously, the High Court had reviewed 40 civil cases related to Phajo Nidup, which were appeals against Time Bound Bench judgments, primarily involving Financial Institutions. Out of these, 12 cases were fully affirmed, 27 cases partially reversed, and 1 case withdrawn by the appealing party.
The Special Bench concluded hearings in the civil and commercial cases involving Phajo Nidup on 20 May 2024, Monday, and pronounced a total of 87 judgements.
As per the judgments rendered by the Bench since its establishment, Phajo Nidup owes a sum of Nu.342.186 million (mn) to different private individuals excluding the liabilities of previous judgments pending before the Bench for enforcement.
Phajo is liable to pay the principal and interest payment to Nu. 657.759 to various banks.
The Special Bench ruled that that loan interest and penalty amounting to Nu. 129.154 mn is imposed on various banks to fix accountability, however, the High Court during the appeal reversed this back to Phajo.
As a result, Phajo owes the banks and private individuals around Nu 1 billion (bn) to be paid back by auctioning his properties.
The loans from various financial institutions were applied for and sanctioned between 2013 and 2019.
The priorities and entitlement of mortgage lands that were mortgaged twice or thrice with multiple banks were decided based on the order in which the mortgages were registered with relevant offices such as Thromde offices, Dungkhags, and Dzongkhags.
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.
It remains to be seen of these lands of Phajo will be enough to repay back the banks and individuals.