Corruption: The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) closed down three shops in Phuentsholing town last evening for alleged corrupt practices.

While details are sketchy, sources said the commission’s team had also apprehended at least 20 people, mostly non-Bhutanese, for interrogation.

The ACC team, accompanied by police personnel, zoomed into a busy JPLP, which is one of the biggest complexes in town, located near the Zangtopelri roundabout yesterday evening.  After about an hour long interrogation, the commission team sealed the entrance to the complex.

An Indian man with a legitimate Bhutanese license owns the JPLP.  Meanwhile, Rigsel Enterprise and Tsheldrup Enterprise are the other two shops the ACC team closed down.

Kuensel learnt that the ACC shut down four shops in all.  However, the relevant officials couldn’t be contacted for further verification.

A team from ACC has been in Phuentsholing since last week to investigate three alleged corruption cases in Phuentsholing and Samtse simultaneously.

One of the cases is the illegal transaction of land in Phuentsholing, linked with the ongoing investigation into the fraudulent transaction and transfer of land in Thimphu.

The team is also investigating the alleged fraudulent and deceptive practices and missing stock, amounting to millions of ngultrums from the Food Corporation of Bhutan (FCB) in Phuentsholing.   The investigators are also reportedly looking into the alleged manipulation of a data computation system managed by FCB’s IT personnel.

The team is also investigating a talc mining case in Samtse, which exported talc worth more than Nu 20 million in the guise of constructing a school.

Rajesh Rai, Phuentsholing