Privilege: The Chief Executive Officer of Bhutan National Bank Ltd. (BNBL), Kipchu Tshering, said the bank’s board directors were provided with ipads as per the rule in response to the allegations made in an anonymous letter sent to Kuensel.

He also justified the purchase of the CEO’s old official Land Cruiser Prado from the Bank.

An anonymous letter Kuensel received through the Bhutan Post accused the bank’s executive body of colluding with the board directors to make unfair gains.

The board directors of BNBL were “gifted” by the bank’s executive body with the latest ipads. However, the CEO said that ipads were provided for official use.

“Nowadays, we mostly use ipads instead of paper,” he said. He said the ipads would be returned to the bank at the end of their term.

The CEO said ipads were provided as per the rule and not as “gifts”. “There are certain things the board directors are entitled to,” he said. The CEO, who is one of the board directors, said the letter would have come from a disgruntled employee within the bank.

“The accusation is not credible. It must have come from a disgruntled employee in the bank,” he said.

There are seven board directors and they are Sonam P Wangdi (Chair person), (Dr) Pema Choephyel, (Dr) Damber Singh Kharka, Kunzang Dechen, Ugyen Namgyal, Harish H Enginner and Kipchu Tshering.

The board of directors sold the old office Land Cruiser Prado on purchase of new Prado to the CEO on book value. The letter alleged that the car would have fetched Nu 3.5M (million) to 4M if sold on public auction.

However, the CEO said the car was bought on the book value, which he said was “zero”. “I purchased at over Nu 700,000 though its books value was zero. If it is in India, CEOs are entitled to take their official car at the end,” he said.

The letter also alleged that the rubber stamp of the board of directors validated the sale of Prado. It alleged that the Deputy CEO has to provide check on the CEO in the institution where there is no check and balance system in place, but he failed to do so in order to get a favour in return.

The deputy CEO was not available for comment.

One of the board directors, (Dr) Damber S Kharka confirmed that the board directors received an ipad each from the BNBL. Asked if they were entitled to such facilities, he said,  “I would not comment on this.”

Staff Reporter

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