Chimi Dema | Tsirang

Tsirang dzongkhag court sentenced two former Bhutan Development Bank Ltd (BDBL) employees to over 11 years in prison for embezzlement of more than Nu 17 million (M).

The April 14 judgment stated that the two officials, both 32-year-old have embezzled Nu 17,09M between 2012 and March 2019. It was also stated that the convicts have embezzled the amount by forging and tampering with the bankbooks of 67 clients. 

The two officials were arrested in March 2019.

The convicts are ordered to repay the embezzled amount with 15 percent annual interest within the next six months from the date of the judgment. Each of them has to repay Nu 8.5M, according to the judgment. 

The judgment also stated that the defendants would be imprisoned until the money is either paid or recovered and the court may also attach the property of the defendants if they cannot pay as per section 43 of Penal Code of Bhutan.

The case first surfaced when an account holder with the bank had come to withdraw money and found the account empty.

Following complaints from more than 60 people about money missing from their accounts, the two officials were suspended from work in March 2019.

Meanwhile, the BDBL had restituted to all the account holders who lost their savings to the convicts in the same year.