BHUTAN ATTORNEY GENERAL CLARIFIES PROGRESS ON INSURANCE FRAUD CASE

The Attorney General’s office of Bhutan has issued a statement in order to refute allegations that the case involving the prosecution of 71 employees of the Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan (RICB) charged with misappropriating consumers’ funds and filing false expenses claims was to be dropped and the matter dealt with by the insurers’ own management. This was denied by Attorney General Damchoe Dorji, who stated that “in fact we are almost through with preparing charges against the employees.” They will be charged by the Anti Corruption Commission for misusing entitlement claims by fabricating fictitious bills. Rumours that the case was to be withdrawn by the management of RICB surfaced last week due to the similarity between this case and another involving the misappropriation of an education fund – a case that was forwarded to the Attorney General by the Ministry of Education before being sent back to the ministry. The Attorney General explained that this was due to administrative reasons and stressed that “we will not let them go scot-free”. In addition to the 71 employees originally charged in the RICB case, a general manager and the chief executive will join the accused in the dock charged with prejudicial management decisions.