Introduction
In a new ‘democratic’ Bhutan, a lady’s failed attempt to overthrow the army chief and influence the highest authority in the county’s legal system raised questions if the country has the capacity to deter future conspiracies that could be complicated and sophisticated than this.
The story received massive public attention and stirred inconclusive debates purely because the country has liberalised politics and media industry, though in miniature form, exist. Many stories of this nature vanished in history and have become folklores.
The latest scandal would have much bigger implications in public psychology had it been not shadowed by the COVID 19 pandemic.
The story revolves around four individuals – Bomden Khandu Wangmo, former Royal Bodyguard (RBG) Commandant Brigadier Thinley Tobgay, Supreme Court Justice Kuenlay Tshering (Elephant Bench or Bench 1) and Pemagatshel District Judge Yeshey Dorji. The Thimphu District Court on 23 July sentenced these four individuals to a prison term ranging from five years to 10 years.
The charge sheet of the Office of Attorney General (OAG) mentions, ‘as the offenses committed by the defendants are highly sensitive, grievous, most serious in nature and detrimental to the very core of national security, peace and sovereignty of the country, they must be given the maximum sentencing’.
Though total sentences pronounced against them are much longer, the court agreed for concurrent sentences and some of them can pay Thrimthue[1] in lieu of imprisonment for certain offences and charges.
Lead Lady
The story revolves around Khandu Wangmo – a lady who whirled power in disguise in such a sophisticated way that caused a major stir in the national security and judiciary.
Wangmo, 41, from Thimphu, started her career as an English teacher in Drukgyel School in Paro but left the profession early on. She worked in the Indian Embassy in Thimphu as a Social Secretary cum Liaison Officer between 2012 and 2016.
She was married to a police officer, initially and later with Dorji. In both cases, she divorced. She briefly had affairs with Col. Karma Loday Samphel of Royal Bhutan Army (RBA), in between. Nothing is known about her children.
She first came to the limelight through an article in Kuensel where she highlighted her two-week-long Desuup training experience in October 2015. It is a very diplomatic article with sophisticated language.
The Story
It all started years ago when Wangmo sought support from RBA Chief Operations Officer (COO) Lt Gen Batoo Tshering some personal issues which the COO refused to help. Reports allege that Wangmo nursed a personal grudge against the COO from the day.
Wangmo, while working in Indian Embassy, developed contacts with high-profile individuals. She met with Brigadier Tobgay when visiting Military Training College in Tencholing along with then Indian Ambassador Pawan Verma in 2015.
In 2015 Justice Tshering was a member of a selection jury for Chevening Scholarship in England. In his statement, Tshering said, he received an SMS from an unknown number pretending to be a high official directing him to favour Wangmo, who was an applicant. He gave her a higher number.
In England, Wangmo allegedly borrowed US$ 12,000 from a local resident Sothy Toep but returned home without paying back. Following a case, Thimphu District Court ordered her arrest. Tshering directed the judge of the Family and Child Bench of the Court to defer the arrest warrant issued on Judgement Enforcement.
Through Tobgay, Wangmo obtained tender documents of RBA vehicle purchases for UN mission. The documents were then passed on to Tshering to frame legal charges against the COO. The complaint was filed at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) along with documents, anonymously. The ACC processed the complaint and decided to trash it for lack of evidence. The complaint letter claimed that bid winner Tata Company dealership in Bhutan (Samden Group) was owned by a nephew of the COO.
Wangmo knew Dorji through Tshering. They got married in 2017.
Wangmo also had availed Nu 6.5m from Tobgay, through RBG funds. He gave his personal sidearm to her and his duty Prado was put on her duty. When it’s time the money be refunded, she told Dorji that she had another order from the higher authority to take a loan and pay back the funds to the Brigadier.
Tobgay mortgaged his parents’ land in Gaylegphug and submitted some fictional documents of shops to get the Nu 8 mn loan from Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan (RICB). She refunded Brigadier with an additional amount that the Brigadier was accused of keeping for himself.
Dorji failed to receive his money back. As things started getting worse, they decided to divorce in October 2018 after 11 months of marriage. Then Dorji filed a civil case in court to recover the money from her. Following the divorce, Dorji’s friend Tshering kept his distance from Wangmo.
While the case was under review in court, Wangmo went against Dorji by writing a fictitious pamphlet in the name of ‘Khenrig Namsum’ scattering its copies in few public places. She then contacted Royal Bhutan Police (RBP) and ACC to tell that Dorji was behind the pamphlet. The trained eyewitnesses visited RBP to complain against Dorji on pamphlets. One of the witnesses was folded under a simple cross-examination by the RBP wherein she later confessed to being coached by Khandu to implicate the Dorji in a sedition case.
She was worried that she would lose the case if Tshering becomes the next Chief Justice given his relations with Dorji. She wanted to delay the civil lawsuit that Dorji filed.
Doctor in trap
Wangmo got in touch with one of her former students from Drukgyel School, who had then just become a doctor, through Facebook. Wangmo was closed to her since school days as they lived close by and this student spent lot of time in Wangmo’s rented house.
Wangmo invited the doctor to her home in Motithang for meals. Old ties were rebuilt. Wangmo obtained a medical certificate from her to avoid proceedings.
The doctor was in relation with Pema Wangchuk, a former lecturer of Taktse Institute of Language and Culture Studies (ILCS), one of the nine lecturers who had been compulsorily retired over allegations of sexual misconduct.
In October 2019, the doctor took her boyfriend to meet Wangmo for a meal. Wangmo had a copy of the entire OAG charge sheet against him and she offered help if he agreed to do a task for her. Wangmo allegedly asked Wangchuk to kill Dorji using her car, pretending to be a road accident. Wangchuk responded he needed more time to think.
On 8 January 2020, Wangmo asked Wangchuk to take her white Toyota Rush for a wash. A bag with documents was discovered in the car at the carwash. Finding them sensitive and rebellious, he took pictures. An upset-looking Wangmo arrived at the car wash in a taxi. She took away the bag.
Wangchuk consulted his senior at ILCS who connected him to a police officer. He explained about the documents but did not provide photos.
Wangchuk was taken to Trongsa jail on 13 January, where he spent 59 days behind bars. He gave his phone to the lady doctor. Months later when he got back his phone everything on it was erased.
The lady doctor had cut off her ties with Wangchuk. Wangchuk was unaware that Wangmo was already spreading rumours and pamphlets.
Rebellious Documents
Wangmo’s next preys were police constables and a Bhutan Narcotics Control Authority (BNCA) officer.
A BNCA officer met Wangmo through a junior officer at OAG. The junior officer told the BNCA officer that Wangmo wanted to invest in pharmaceuticals in Bhutan and needed the BNCA’s feedback.
Wangmo convinced the BNCA officer that she was working for a higher official who wanted to convict Dorji and his family by planting documents in BNCA on the table of Dorji’s sister, who works there. The BNCA officer was convinced that Dorji, who is originally from Zhemgang, and his sister were engaged in seditious activities, and he agreed to carry out the task.
On 16 December 2019, the BNCA officer wearing surgical gloves left eight copies of rebellious documents in the name of Khen-Rig Namsum on the table of Dorji’s sister. Khen-Rig Namsum was an underground organisation of Khengpas complaining about Zhemgang being left out of the flagship tourism project and making highly rebellious comments against the Tsa-Wa-Sum[3]. The intention was to implicate Dorji’s sister as a member of the rebel group.
When on 18 December Dorji’s sister discovered the documents on her table, she reported it to her boss, and together they reported it to the RBP and handed the documents over.
Wangmo had maintained a close connection with RBP constables. She told these constables that she was working on orders from a higher authority to catch Dorji and his family for some seditious activities. The plan is to catch him red hand. One young constable also maintained sexual relations with Wangmo.
He claimed she recorded their intimate moments through a hidden camera. She threatened to share this with his wife if he did not agree to do her task of planting the documents. She threatened to make it go online after editing her face out.
A week later, after the BNCA case, the constable left the same set of documents in Dorji’s apartment in Changjiji, which Dorji on discovering reported to the RBP. The constable put the third set of pamphlets in a parked car that belonged to the brother of Dorji’s ex-wife in Babesa. However, these documents were never reported as the car was not in use because the owner was overseas.
With two documents in place, RBP investigated the Khengpa group but found no evidence of engaging in any seditious activities and meetings. Failing to see any police action against Dorji, Wangmo got further frustrated.
Lecturer Wangchuk had written a book about his Taktse case (Turning Point – A True Story ISBN 978-99936-47-68) where he had criticised the police.
Wangmo had convinced the doctor that Wangchuk had committed an anti-national act by criticising the police in his book and he was about to be declared an anti-national and she too would be implicated in the case as his accomplice.
To avoid this, Wangmo asked the doctor to implicate Wangchuk as somebody who harasses her even from behind bars by incessant calls. The doctor agreed.
And then a journalist
The doctor approached a female journalist to her story. The journalist called the police to report the harassment incident but failing to get hold of it, she left a voice message. Wangchuk was interrogated that evening in Trongsa jail on why he made the calls, but they did not find any phone with him. The doctor wanted the journalist to write against Wangchuk on Facebook, but the journalist refused.
Around this time, Wangmo got in touch with a former male journalist who had been a co-teacher with her in Drugyel and invited him over for a meal at her house. There she tried to convey that there was an important task for him from a higher authority. Her guest declined to say if there was anything it would be communicated to him directly and not through any intermediary.
Wangmo sent the doctor to him saying that there are some seditious documents, and if he could get those documents to His Majesty’s Secretariat. He, however, agreed to go with the doctor up to the secretariat but not deliver by himself. The doctor never contacted him again.
Concurrently, negative stories began to appear on social media about Tshering. He was one of the contenders to be Chief Justice of Bhutan given that he was the senior-most justice in the Supreme Court at that time.
Multiple anonymous Facebook accounts started campaigning against him becoming the next CJ. These accounts commonly claimed he is unfit to be CJ. One of these fake accounts ‘Terda Duuji’ in September 2019 even said that Tshering was a mastermind in writing an anonymous letter against RBA Chief to the ACC and that Dorji was an accomplice.
Many of the stories against Wangmo also poured into the Facebook groups. Sergi Melong was one such unverified account that wrote a lot against Wangmo and her bad side of the story.
Reports to Police and Arrests
Following several rounds of interrogation, the doctor gave up the entire story including how Wangmo sent here there with a cooked-up story to tell. The RBP then started interrogating other people who worked for Wangmo. They confessed to telling a cooked-up and misleading story. The police constable showed the third set of documents left in the car in Babesa which still remained untouched.
Following release from prison, Wangchuk went to the RBP to narrate what he saw including the rebellious documents in Wangmo’s bag on 8 January 2020. Then RBP raided Wangmo’s home but found nothing that relates to the whole story.
Following the win in his civil case, Dorji filed a Crime Information Report (CIR) of impersonation of uniformed personnel and deceptive practice against Wangmo and Tobgay on 9 July 2020 to the crime branch of RBP. Colonel Karma Lodey Samphel of the RBA lodged another complaint with RBP on 20 October 2020 against Wangmo and Tobgay for harassing him for a period of seven months from April 2016 to October 2016.
RBP arrested all of them on 16 Feb 2021. A case against them was filed at the Thimphu District Court on 17 Feb, where they were denied bail. They were kept in the police detention center in Thimphu. The individuals until then were not given any charge sheets.
Trials
Opening statements from defendants were taken on 17 March. Dorji claimed that he is the complainant and a victim and requested the court to dismiss the charges against him. OAG booked two charges against him, as an abettor of mutiny and larceny by deception.
Tshering also requested the court to dismiss the charges against him as he was a victim in the case. He claimed that whatever he did was because he was misled into believing in the wrong information given to him. He was charged with three charges – abettor of mutiny, commission amounting to an abuse of duty, and obstruction of lawful authorities.
Tobgay accepted his mistakes before the court. He said he was misled with wrong information. He said he issued Glock 19 pistol and brigadier-rank military SD suit with full insignia to Wangmo but had later taken them back. OAG booked seven charges against him – aiding mutiny, misappropriation of property, aiding and abetting, official misconduct and harassment.
Dorji had no legal representation in the court while Tobgay and Tshering sent their representatives during the opening statement.
Wangmo did not attend for the opening statement on medical grounds. Wangmo gave her statement on 24 March, without legal representation. The media was not allowed. The court maintained it was not a closed-door trial, but the secrecy and transparency around Wangmo’s opening statement challenge this assertion.
The Court heard a total of 30 witnesses on 9 July that lasted well into the late evening. Wangmo in her claims in court tried to pin the blame for the whole case on the doctor and those who worked for her.
Verdict
The court read out its verdict on July 23. It took six hours to pronounce the 1,062-page judgment
Wangmo was sentenced with the highest 11 charges. She was convicted for 21 years in jail (5 years for abettor of mutiny, 5 years for larceny by deception, 5 years for criminal misappropriation of property, 3 years for illegal possession of firearms, 3 years for impersonation of uniformed personnel).
However, she was given a concurrent sentence of 9 years for those offences. For two counts of official misconduct (misuse of RBG duty car and personnel and illegally obtaining UN tender documents) and harassment, the court has convicted her to 18 months in prison. But she can pay Thrimthue in lieu of imprisonment for those three offences.
The charges against her on deferring of the arrest warrant from the family bench, Chevening scholarship, denial of a fair trial to Sothy Toep and harbouring Gup Kanjur[4] were dropped due to lack of evidence.
Tobgay was given 18 years of imprisonment. He was charged on seven instances – 10 years for abettor of mutiny, 5 years for criminal misappropriation of property, 18 months for illegal possession of firearms and 18 months for impersonation of uniformed personnel. However, he can serve only 10 years – he can pay Thrimthue in lieu of imprisonment for offences of two charges for official misconduct (2 years) and one charge of harassment (6 months).
Tobgay was liable for the offence of harassing and threatening Col. Karma Lodey Samphel subjecting him to emotional and mental distress in collusion with Wangmo.
The three defendants have appealed to the high court against the verdict. Wangmo appealed on 6 August, Tshering 1 August and Dorji made the appeal on 5 August. Tobgay did not appeal to the higher court.
Influencing techniques
Wangmo appears to be a strong influencer. Witnesses say they were attracted from her personal charm and confidence she gave them to create but the convincing impression that she is very close to higher authorities.
One familiar technique reported was that she would first show a picture taken with the ‘higher authority’ followed by dropping the names of those ‘higher authorities’ to indicate closeness. Then later suddenly in the middle of a conversation, she would pretend to get a call from the authority.
Larger implications
The Deputy Chief RBP Colonel Dorji Wangchuk, who controlled the Crime and Operations department, was terminated from service in May. The DCOP had around two years left in service.
A former RBA Captain harassed RBA Colonel on behalf of Wangmo. The harasser was traced through his phone number. The former Captain confessed to making threat calls to him in the presence of RBA Colonel. The Colonel recorded the confession on his phone.
When Wangmo learnt about the confession and the recording, she contacted DCOP Wangchuk and asked his help to delete the evidence. The DCOP got in touch with the RBA Colonel and asked him to delete the confession recording.
Similarly, Tshering and Dorji were suspended from their role in March. An order by CJ stated that Tshering was suspended from service according to Article 21 of the Constitution and the recommendation of the National Judicial Commission. Dorji was suspended as endorsed by the Royal Judiciary Service Council.
Article 32 of the Constitution of Bhutan says constitutional post holders must first be removed from office for any legal cases to proceed against them. Article 32.2 states that the proceedings for the initiation of impeachment for constitutional post holders could happen on grounds of incapacity, incompetency or serious misconduct with the concurrence of not less than two-third of the total number of members of Parliament. The country does not have an Impeachment Act yet. Additionally, Article 21.15 says justices can be suspended by a command of the King on the recommendation of the National Judicial Commission for proven misbehaviour, which, in the opinion of the Commission, does not deserve impeachment.
The Constitution doesn’t state what constitutes serious misconduct, which leaves room for interpretation based on the facts of each case and the appropriate laws that don’t necessitate an act to be a criminal offence under Penal Code or corruption offence under the Anti-Corruption Act.
Conclusion
This whole episode has cast a shadow on both the culture of blind obedience and misuse of authority in the name of higher authority regardless of the charade involved. The incident also opened floodgates of how decision-makers in Bhutan are misled, misguided or influenced with minor things. This raises questions about their competency and ability to carry out their duties independently. Does Bhutan operate based on the Rule of Law?
Questions Remained to be Answered
Why was RBA Colonel allowed to record confession by the RBA captain that he acted on instruction by Wangmo when it’s the duty of the RBA officer interrogating to record the statement?
How a justice and army commander be misguided by an ordinary citizen. Can citizens trust to get a fair trial in Bhutanese court when a justice makes a decision influenced by an individual, not an authority?
How can an RBG commander let a lady take his sidearm, lend Nu 6.5m from national coffer and let his car be used without genuine order from his superior? Should we believe that RBG has a broken chain of command?
In many of the news reports, the ‘higher authority’ is hinted at the fourth King Jigme Singye Wangchuk. Has there been a power tussle between the father and son in determining who still holds the supreme authority?
Tobgay was already in line to have a chance of being COO and Tshering in line to be CJ. Why should they collude with a lady to secure their place? What’s the gravity of authority a lady can bring to strengthen their chances of being COO and CJ? OAG’s charges against Tshering that he acted to become next CJ appear very hallow.
Allegation on RBA tender documents forms a separate corruption investigation material for ACC. Why was that not investigated?
The OAG accused the RBG commandant of improperly obtaining the tender documents regarding purchases relating to equipping the UN Contingency Force. How can they be obtained improperly? Are they not public documents that every citizen has the right to know?
Complain against COO was registered with CAA. OAG cannot charge someone just for registering a complaint. This would discourage citizens from reporting incidences of corruption and abuse of authority.
What could be the reason that the COO and the lady had such a fallout that she wanted to overthrow him?
Why would she want RBG Commandant to become RBA Chief?
Why would OAG term collusion to discredit COO as mutinous conspiracy? The collusion to discredit may be illegal or shameful but it cannot be a mutiny.
[1] Thrimthue is an opportunity provided by Section 28 of the Penal Code of Bhutan (PCB) to an accused who has been convicted of a crime to pay money in lieu of imprisonment. This can be applied only if the accused is not a recidivist and accustomed or habitual offender or the conviction is not a felony (Imprisonment of three or more years). Further, Section 73 of PCB provides conditions for the court to determine the eligibility for Thrimthue. This includes “severity of the charges, the defendant’s past criminal record, the potential threat posed to society and the defendant’s age and physical or mental health condition.”
[3] Tsa Wa Sum literally refers to three elements – King, Country and People. However, this term is generally used when comments are made against the king or royal family members.
[4] Thimphu dzongkhag court’s bench II on 14 June 2019 convicted former head of village council of Chang village Kanjur to prison for forgery, deceptive practice, official misconduct and illegal encroachment of government land by registering 3.72 acres of government land in his mother’s name in Debsi. The court gave a concurrent judgment of two years to Kanjur and asked him to pay Nu 90,000 in lieu of his prison term.
He was found guilty of forging original map of 1998 to survey two plots of land, Dzomdrak Choetenjab and Chakazhing, from the community pastureland in Debsi. He was also found guilty of forging the Kapa thram, which is a field document containing details of land holding and total acreage although the survey field report 1988 stated that there were no details to reflect the plots.