Crime: A 31-year-old man, who worked as a gewog clerk in Gangzur, Lhuentse was arrested on August 4 for misusing the gewog’s rural tax.

The police were informed about the case by the dzongdag.

A police official said that the man, who is from Khoma in Lhuentse, had forged former Gangzur gup Karma’s signature and had withdrawn Nu 135,500 from the gewog’s account in November 2015 and June this year.

Karma said that he learned about misappropriation while handing over the office to gewog administrator. The clerk was asked to deposit the land tax that he was suppose to deposit in April after finding out that he failed to deposit it. However, he had not deposit the amount even after he was told to do so.

“We warned him that if he did not deposit the money, we will take him to court. After that he stopped coming to office,” said Karma.

Karma checked the gewog’s bank account statement and found out that the clerk had withdrawn Nu 60,000 each on November 14, 2015 and June 2, 2016. Later, he had again withdrawn Nu 19,500 to buy some items for the gewog office.

Karma said that the clerk did not report or submit any receipt to the gewog to prove the purchase he made. “Maybe he did not report because of the fear that we might find out about the forgery.”

After discovering the problem, the administrator, mangmi and the gup together reported the problem to the dzongdag.

Dechen Tshomo