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THIMPHU, Bhutan: Police in Bhutan, the Himalayan kingdom famous for its happiness rating, detained a senior general and two judges for an alleged plot to overthrow the country’s top military officer and chief justice.
Accusations about the conspiracy to take over top posts in the military and the judiciary have rocked the small country of 750,000 stuck between India and China that prides itself on its clean image.
Former Royal Bodyguard Commander Brigadier Thinley Tobgay, Supreme Court Justice Kuenley Tshering and Superior District Court Judge Yeshey Dorji appeared in court on Wednesday (February 17) after being detained at their homes.
All three have been accused of conspiring to overthrow the country’s top military officer, Lieutenant General Batoo Tshering by implicating him in a corruption scandal.
All were denied bail by the Thimphu District Court and remained in custody until a first formal hearing on February 27.
Tobgay is reportedly alleged to have illegally obtained military documents regarding the acquisition of United Nations vehicles.
The Bhutanese newspaper said that while the tender was conducted publicly and fairly, the documents would be used to undermine the army’s number one position.
Other reports said that the plot between the three men was revealed to authorities by a woman detained a few months ago.
The three “friends” wanted to take over positions in charge of the armed forces, as Chief Justice and Attorney General, according to reports.
Batoo Tshering has been Bhutan’s COO for more than a decade.
The country is known as a tourist paradise in the Himalayas and for its happiness index that developed in the 1970s after a former king ruled that “gross national happiness is more important than gross domestic product.”
The index seeks to give equal importance to the non-economic aspects of well-being and since then the leading international economists and politicians have addressed these elements.
