The Bhutanese Leading the way.
Case chargesheeted to Thimphu District Court today
Yesterday evening, after office hours were over, the Royal Bhutan Police detained the Supreme Court Judge Kuenlay Tshering (Elephant Bench or Bench 1) and Pemagatshel Dzongkhag Drangpon Yeshey Dorji.
Judge Kuenlay was detained from his home.
This was following the earlier detention of former Royal Body Guard Commandant Brigadier Thinley Tobgay.
According to a source, the three were detained in the same case of trying to frame the current Chief Operations Officer of the Royal Bhutan Army, Goongloen Gongma Batoo Tshering in what is being called an untrue corruption case.
The former RBG Brigadier Thinley Tobgay allegedly had illegally obtained some documents from the RBA on the procurement of the United Nation vehicles. The source said that the quotation had been done publicly and fairly but the documents were attempted to be used to undermine the COO.
The Brigadier is accused of then using a woman named Khandu Wangmo to pass on those documents to the sitting Supreme Court Judge Kuenlay Tshering to frame charges so that it could be sent to the ACC for a case against the COO.
The Pemagatshel Drangpon Yeshey Dorji is not directly involved in the above process but he has been detained as he was well aware of what was going on.
The source said that the corruption case was not true and the conspiracy was to ‘overthrow’ the COO from his position.
The source said that the three accused were friends who were well known to each other and belonged to the same group.
The motivation of the group was to take on the positions of the COO, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General or the Registrar General of the Supreme Court.
A source said the case is a highly complicated one and there is a link in the case between overthrowing the COO and also attempting to become the Chief Justice, OAG or the Registrar General.
The case was charge sheeted to the Thimphu District Court by the OAG today morning based on the investigation by the RBP.
The Thimphu District court within the next 10 days will allow for a preliminary hearing where the accused will get a copy of the charge sheet and also get an opportunity to present their side of the story.
The Bhutanese tried to get the side of the story of the accused but they are currently detained in the RBP detention center in town and they are yet to get details of the charge sheet themselves which will only be shared in the preliminary hearings.
However, they are expected to state their defences in the Thimphu district court in the coming days once the hearings start.
Detention is normally done to prevent the tampering of a case or witnesses though it is upto the presiding judge to grant bail later.
