Special audit of postal fraud

30 December, 2009 - A special audit investigation is being carried out at the Gelephu post office, following a request from Sarpang court, to reinvestigate the misappropriation of Nu 305,785 by the postal in-charge of the branch office in Panbang, Zhemgang.

The Bhutan Post management found, through internal auditing, that Ugyen Dorji, 25, had misappropriated the money during his tenure as the postal in-charge of Panbang post office, Zhemgang, from March 2008 to January 2009.

Ugyen Dorji had misused the public money order that is transacted through the post by fax and letter. Post offices in other parts of the country had paid to the public money orders sent from the Panbang post office but Ugyen Dorji had not reimbursed the money to the other post offices, according to a Sarpang court official.

There is no pending payment to the public, according to Bhutan Post’s regional manager in Gelephu, Karma Tshering. “Bhutan Post had made immediate payments from our imprest fund,” he said.

Bhutan Post had filed the case against the defendant earlier this year in the Gelephu dungkhag court, where the defendant had admitted misusing the funds and entered a legal agreement to repay the money. “He has failed to repay so we had to file the case again,” the regional manager said.

Once the case was forwarded to Sarpang court, the defendant submitted a petition to reinvestigate the case, stating that he was not satisfied with the investigation carried out by internal auditors. “We requested the audit to carry out the investigation to give fair justice and to satisfy the aggrieved party,” a court official in Sarpang said.

Bhutan Post had recovered Nu 26,275 from the defendant from his monthly salary and other entitlements. “However, the amount is subject to change with the audit investigation, which will be known within next three days” Karma Tshering said.

Ugyen Dorji from Samdrupjongkhar is in police custody.

By Tashi Dema in Kuensel

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