Action taken after a prima facie case of corruption was found against the organisation

ACC: The Anti Corruption Commission (ACC), on finding a prima facie case of corruption last week, suspended both the certificate of registration as a civil society organisation (CSO) and the memorandum of understanding (MoU) executed between the commission and the Youth Media Centre (YMC).

The ACC, in exercise of the power conferred under section 24 of Anti Corruption Act of Bhutan, suspended the certificate of registration on June 18.  “The suspension shall remain effective until further order from the commission,” the ACC’s suspension order stated.

Sources said that the commission suspended YMC’s CSO certificate for the alleged embezzlement of fund, which the ACC funded for the celebration of International Anti Corruption Day last year.

ACC officials refused to share information, stating that they were investigating the alleged misuse of fund.  However, Kuensel learnt that the commission funded about Nu 0.6 million for a photo competition and to make programs of the international anti corruption day.  An MoU was also executed between the two parties.

On June 12, the commission issued a public notice informing that the MoU executed between the ACC and YMC on September 27, 2013 has been temporary suspended with immediate effect.

The commission notified that agencies engaged or intending to engage YMC may wish to contact the commission for any information, if desired.

The commission, which has a plan to investigate other CSOs, is also reportedly looking into the uses of other sources of funding the YMC had availed.

The YMC, which is Bhutan’s central multimedia advisory agency for the use of audiovisual material and related computer applications, such as music recording and animation/graphic design, was registered as a CSO on April 17, 2013.

YMC serves as a resource centre, offering multimedia skill training courses to make youth employable as music producers, graphic designers, photo editors, media photographers, animators and special effects film designers.

Currently, there are 47 registered CSOs in the country.  Of the total, 35 are public benefit organisations and 12 are mutual benefit organisations.  YMC is registered as a public benefit organisation.  The head of YMC could not be contacted for comment.

Rinzin Wangchuk

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