Anti-Corruption Act 2011

An almost unanimous Act

Only one of the 67 members present in the house voted ‘no’

The only nay sayer

Anti Corruption (Amendment) Bill 31 May, 2011 - Following a brief discussion on the Anti Corruption amendment bill, 2010, Parliament yesterday passed the bill as the Anti Corruption Act 2011.

Of the 67 Parliament members, excluding the speaker, present at the hall, 66 voted ‘yes’ to endorse the bill as an Act.

Penalty Amount involved
Second degree felony more than Nu 1.2M
Third degree felony Nu 1M- Nu 1.2M
Fourth degree felony Nu 540,000-1M
Misdemeanour Nu 252,000-540,000

The only member to vote ‘no’, Chukha assembly representative Ugay Tshering said he voted so because the provisions contained in the amendment bill were more or less similar to those of the previous Act.

Some holding eminent positions in society, who were smart enough to wash the trails of their misdeeds and probably cognisant of the anti-corruption laws, he said, refrained from falling prey to actions that would be deemed corrupt.

“Therefore, there are very few high profile cases,” he said, adding a majority of the Bhutanese caught in corruption cases were common people.

“There is an earnest need for better education for the ordinary people,” he said.

The decision comes after the National Assembly speaker last week asked the joint committee to further review and incorporate necessary changes the members suggested, following the joint committee’s recommendations presented to the house.

While many parliamentarians last week agreed that the fourth degree felony was too harsh a penalty for people caught in small time corruption cases, a majority were for the harshest of sanctions for cases involving misuse of significant amounts of state funds.

Bearing in mind the suggestions from the floor, the joint committee further amended the penalties they had initially recommended in several sections.

Minimum penalty for bribery of various types involving public servants and people in the private sector and issues of embezzlement was reduced to a misdemeanour.

It was a fourth degree felony in the committee’s earlier recommendation.

The maximum penalty, however, in keeping with a majority of the member’s submissions, was increased from third degree felony to second.

It further specifies that second-degree felony would apply in cases where the money involved exceeds Nu 1.2M, or the “total amount of minimum wage at the time of the crime for the period of 35 years”.

The rationale for multiplying a Nu 3,000 monthly minimum wage by 35 years to reach Nu 1.2M was based on section 287 of the country’s penal code.

For a case to be booked under third degree felony, a Parliament member explained the amount involved has to be between more than Nu 1M and Nu 1.2M, and to be classified under fourth degree felony, the amount should be between Nu 540,000 and more than Nu 1M.

For misdemeanour, the amount spells between Nu 252,000 and Nu 540,000 or between a month and three years prison term, instead of three to five years initially.

Bribery cases in bids and contracts, which some members thought was one of the major channels, where the government lost a significant chunk of its borrowed money, the minimum penalty was decided as a fourth degree felony.

Lhuentse’s assembly member Karma Rangdol said, to stop corruption for good in the country, it was of utmost importance that, for big corruption cases, penalties go beyond life imprisonment, if possible.

“That’ll drill some fear into the hearts of people, who will think twice before siphoning off substantial public money,” he said, adding many Bhutanese holding eminent positions misused public funds intelligently to never be nabbed.

“Some of them must be laughing at us, while we deliberate the penalties here today,” he said.

By Samten Wangchuk