The Bhutanese Leading the way.
The Royal Bhutan Police (RBP) and the Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority (CCAA) have decided to file a joint report to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) against Sandeep Rai Chamling.
This was after the CCAA invited the RBP for an inter-agency collaboration meeting to coordinate and avoid duplication of efforts.
The CCAA has 69 official written complaints from victims with a claimed refund amount of Nu 382,137, while the RBP has contacted more than 100 victims in its investigation.
On the refund part, a CCAA official said that Sandeep will be given a directive soon by the CCAA asking him to pay victims who have complained, and if he does not comply, then he will be legally charged in court.
The CCAA official said they will use the written complaints, backed by proof of payment such as screenshots, as evidence, and the evidence will also be given to the OAG for review.
A question is what will prevent Sandeep from carrying out his schemes all over again, as he was caught in 2024 by the CCAA and referred to the Bhutan Qualifications and Professional Certification Authority (BQPCA), which warned and later fined him not to carry out his activities, but he came out even stronger.
The CCAA official said that this time around, there will be strict monitoring.
Meanwhile, the main whistleblower, Kezang Choden, said she was contacted by a CCAA official and asked to rewrite her statement in a legally stronger manner for the OAG, and also to submit more evidence, which she said she did at her own expense, as she had to hire a legal writer.
She said the CCAA official also asked her to contact others to write convincing statements and submit strong proof. She said that while the educated and active can do it, she is worried about the many illiterate or semi-literate people who cannot do this but have also been duped.
She feels that the CCAA should take the initiative and contact these victims instead of leaving it only to her.
She said they want justice and their money back, and not to jump through more hoops and rewrite statements, which costs money and time.
The CCAA has already found that Sandeep engaged in unfair trade practices, as he did not have a licence and failed to provide the promised services.
The RBP investigation is done, and they are now awaiting tax evasion data from the Department of Revenue and Customs.
Likely charges by the RBP include deceptive practices, including failure to deliver promised services, crypto-based online gambling through FreeBitco.in, fronting, tax evasion, and possible money laundering.
Sandeep was detained in the last week of October 2025 and released around four weeks ago.
Sandeep and his company mass-contacted people through social media, direct messages, and phone calls, promising to teach them trading and how to earn cryptocurrency for a fee ranging from Nu 2,777 to Nu 6,262. However, once they paid and joined, they could not learn anything, and were instead introduced to online crypto gambling and dubious trading videos.
The victims over the years were in the thousands, as Sandeep earned millions.
