Did OCP fail their duty?- A Lesson from MagneSSA and Oriens fraud

This Article was published in Kuensel for Saturday Legal Column Series on 26 Oct, 2019 issue

The news of alleged fraud of MagneSSA and Oriens through pyramid scheme is not new to Bhutan. It surfaced in the national news long time back but took till now take cognizance of this kind of scheme. Now many Bhutanese are reported to have invested in these schemes expecting quick, yet easy money. Their dreams eventually seem to be a distant dream and instead lost their own money. This is a typical example how ignorant and gullible are the general public in Bhutan including supposedly well-educated ones on consumer rights.

Interestingly, it has been 7 years since the enactment of Consumer Protection Act (CPA), 2012 and establishment of Consumer Protection Office, Consumer Dispute Settlement Committees and Consumer Advocates in the Regional Trade and Industries Offices. However, existence of such institutions  or the rights provided under the CPA are almost alien to the general public even in places like Thimphu.

The recent issues of serious frauds and violations of consumer rights by MadneSSA and Oriens in the name of pyramid scheme seems to have taken the advantage of such ignorance among the Bhutanese consumers.  Therefore, it is a wake-up call to the OCP to vigorously advocate and disseminate the rights of consumers to the general public so that, people are cautious of any such false promises or frauds. For example, Section 89 (e) and (f) of the CPA mandates the OCP to disseminate, advise and educate consumers “about goods and services including, legal rights and remedies, health risks and hazards, safety and quality, weight, measures, prices, consumer choice” and fair prices. Further, the law also requires that, OCP conduct research on consumer issues, make all its decisions publicly available. However, none of these are available for general public nor OCP has taken any comprehensive education measures in the country to educate Bhutanese consumers.

 The Sections 4 of CPA provides comprehensive primary rights of consumers on any consumable products or services including “protection of their lives, health and safety in consumption of goods and services, right to true, sufficient and timely information”, fair price and equitable treatment by businesses. CPA also protects the consumers against misleading and false representation and advertisements, rights against suppliers and even the manufacturers. This law also provides adequate remedial measures such as refund, rejection of goods or other forms of compensation. Another important feature of CPA is that, Section 3 of the Act provides, provisions of CPA would prevail over “any contract term to the contrary or which applies or purports to apply the law of another country”. In case of serious cases which may constitute criminal offence, OCP is mandated to prosecute before the Courts under Section 97 of the Act.  Yet all the consumer rights seem to remain unknown to consumers or known too little to the general public.

With increasing number of businesses both within and from outside, consumers are more vulnerable to various frauds, false promises and may become victims of various scams. Therefore, while it is the duty and mandate of OCP to educate public on consumer rights and  it is also the responsibility of consumers to verify any business properly and highly advised not to engage in any online businesses from outside and our courts and authorities have no jurisdiction over them.