Thinley Namgay
Police legal representative said the charges mentioned against Bhutan National Bank Limited’s (BNBL) officials in their investigation report submitted to the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) regarding the forgery case were probable charges.
The police prosecutor said this yesterday at the Thimphu dzongkhag court bench II in response to Penjore’s rebuttal on April 28 in the Police vs Penjore defamation case.
Penjore’s rebuttal on April 28 states that police have earlier submitted to the OAG stating that 12 employees with fake documents to be penalised, BNBL Chief Executive Officer and officials should be charged for official misconduct, failure to report the crime, and also for hiding the case deliberately.
The prosecutor, in the rebuttal letter, said the OAG used to verify the report sent by the police based on the OAG’s procedure and sometimes the report changes completely.
“Police didn’t mention that it is a final charge,” the prosecutor said.
The prosecutor reiterated that Penjore had defamed the OAG with false allegations on his Facebook without any research.
Penjore asked why the OAG dropped the two charges concerning BNBL executive members for official misconduct and the failure to report the crime. He said there was a question of accountability.
On May 6 the court ordered the prosecutor to justify dropping official misconduct and the failure to report the crime charges against the BNBL officials.
On May 4, 2021, Penjore, a private individual, wrote on Facebook asking the Attorney General and BNBL officials to resign regarding a forgery case related to the recruitment of staff in BNBL.
Police arrested and detained Penjore in May for 16 days and the OAG charged him for sedition, but it was dismissed by the dzongkhag court.
In November last year, police took up the case and charged Penjore for defamation. Including the preliminary hearing, 10 hearings were conducted by the court so far in Penjore’s defamation case.