Author Topic: CTA’s refusal to give answers about Penpa Tsering’s ousting raises more question  (Read 19153 times)

christine V

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All i can say is Ouch to Penpa Tsering

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By Lobsang Wangyal

McLEOD GANJ, India, 9 November 2017

The Deputy President of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) Karma Gelek convened a press conference concerning the dismissal of the current Representative of the Dalai Lama to North America, but didn’t provide any information about it.

Kashag (the Exile Tibetan Cabinet) has asked Penpa Tsering to leave the post at the end of this month. The current Education Minister of CTA Ngodup Tsering will take charge in his place.

Gelek’s dissembling press conference created more confusion than clarity as to why Penpa Tsering has been relieved of his duties.

He said that Penpa Tsering had been served three warning notices asking him to mend his ways regarding the performance of his duties. He refused to give any details what the warnings were about, saying that it was an internal matter.

This reporter requested Gelek to take two questions, but he said that journalists were to ask only one question each, and that the press conference had to be finished in ten minutes.

As this story would remain incomplete without getting answers to the two questions, this reporter walked out to express dissatisfaction with Gelek’s overbearing manner.

On Tuesday CTA President Lobsang Sangay had no comments when journalists asked him questions after Penpa Tsering’s ouster was announced.

During the elections last year, differences between Lobsang Sangay and Penpa Tsering, the two contenders for the post of Sikyong (President of the Central Tibetan Administration), led to discord in the exile Tibetan community.

The Dalai Lama, who has retired as the political leader of exile Tibetans, but still remains as the head of state of the Tibetan people, gave a dressing-down to both the men for their aggressive election campaigning, causing disharmony in the exile Tibetan community.

It is believed that at the suggestion of the Dalai Lama, Lobsang Sangay appointed Penpa Tsering as the Representative of North America to pacify the divided exile Tibetan community.

It seems that Penpa Tsering has now been dismissed in a continuation of election grudges.

There are rumours on the Internet that Penpa Tsering faced this retribution after they engaged in a squabble during a meeting of the Representatives of the various Offices of Tibet after the 5/50 Conference in Dharamshala a month ago.

Penpa Tsering is said to have raised the issue at the meeting of a loan taken for purchase of a new building to house the Office of Tibet in Washington DC. A loan of 1.5 million dollars was taken from Tibet Fund is not being shown in any Office of Tibet’s records for remittance. The purchase was made during the term of Tsering’s predecessor Kaydor Aukatsang, who is a close friend of Sangay.

One of the questions this reporter intended to ask was concerning this issue.

There is growing call for the Kashag to reveal the reasons for Penpa Tsering’s dismissal. Due to the Kashag’s unaccountable behaviour, there are more questions than answers.

Copyright © 2017 Tibet Sun

Ringo Starr

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Here's some documents regarding this rather mysterious loan.

The loan first appeared in The Tibet Fund's 2014 audited financial statement and remains to date at US$1,500,000

Ringo Starr

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The notes to the loan reveal that it is made to the Tibetan Community Development Fund with a very long repayment period.

Ringo Starr

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Here are the details of the borrower of the US$1,500,000 - Tibetan Community Development Fund Inc.

Kalsang Aukasang is the principal officer of the fund.

It last filed IRS Form 990-N in 2013.
That was before the loan was taken in 2014

Ringo Starr

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A search of IRS Form 990 for the Tibetan Community Development Fund Inc. using
its EIN number 13-4104757 obtains no results.

All exempt organizations are required to file IRS Form 990-N or Form 990.

Ringo Starr

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The Tibet Fund's 2016 audited accounts still show the loan to be outstanding.

Where has the debtor gone?

Celia

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The only silver lining to this fiasco is that more and more “interesting tidbits” of the unsavoury deeds of the parties involved which were suppressed or hidden will somehow surface for all to see during the crossfire.

grandmapele

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@Ringo Starr, thank you for the documents and trail of the mysterious USD 1.5 m. That is real magic going on there. The real fireworks will start when the IRS starts auditing the accounts of the Tibetan Community Development Fund Inc as the last IRS Form 990-N was filed in 2013.

So, is the CTA making a bid to sweep the issue under the carpet and keep it there, hoping that it will go away?

Pema8

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Wow! These are "interesting" news! These are not 1.5 Million Rupees but USD!

Obviously, there is a lot going wrong in the CTA and who pays the bill??

Celia

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The only silver lining to this fiasco is that more and more “interesting tidbits” of the unsavoury deeds of the parties involved which were suppressed or hidden will somehow surface for all to see during the crossfire.

As foreseen, more dramas unfolding for all to see with the first shot fired officially by CTA: https://www.tibetsun.com/news/2017/11/18/kashags-clarification-on-decision-to-replace-north-america-representative

It does not take a genius to figure out that unity is crucial to the success of any governmental organisation, more so in the case of Tibetan leadership. Yet, this fiasco confirms the real situation with Tibetan elected officials who prioritize politicking, constant infighting and petty bickering over carrying out their actual responsibilities and promises towards Tibetans. How would Tibetans have any chance of success under this kind of "leadership" from CTA?

Richardlaktam

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In my opinion, usually something unhappy happened between politicians, involved money. In this case, I won't say it's not because of money. Since Penpa Tsering raised the issue of the loan of 1.5 million now, why didn't he raise the issue before? I can't be denied that maybe he didn't get his fair share. Baby cried over spilled milk, might as well he make the issue big. So, CTA, the thief lord of all the money from the west, saw something not right, quickly so something to get rid of the bad apple. But the head of the thief lord (I mean Lobsang Sangay) is so stupid that he didn't realize the whole world is watching his movie now.

dsnowlion

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Well the CTA has given their answers but it just made matters worst because their answers are as usually petty, personally and really dodgy... It's like some school kids fighting over who is right, who is wrong and for disrespecting each other. But sorry to say, Penpa has a point Sikyong... where and what did you do with 1.5mil.  Looks like Penpa's people not gonna stand for Sikyoung's BS!
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Kashag’s charges unacceptable: Representative Penpa Tsering

By Lobsang Wangyal

ON THE WEB, 19 November 2017

Penpa Tsering refused to accept the Cabinet’s ten charges against him, and said he will challenge all of them after he leaves office on 30 November.

He also hinted at filing a case in the exile Tibetan Supreme Justice, saying the charges are unacceptable as he hasn’t committed any mistake.

In a clear demonstration of the power of the people, the Cabinet of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) finally issued a clarification as to why Penpa Tsering had been terminated of his duties as North America Representative. Ten reasons were given, but each would surely be scrutinised and analysed.
Details of warnings remain unclear

Penpa Tsering’s sacking was announced on 7 November. As the news shocked the Tibetan world, the demand for reasons of the ousting mounted on the Cabinet. Questions asked by journalists received no comments from the Cabinet and the President of the Central Tibetan Administration.

Due to popular demand from the press and the public, a press conference was convened after two days. At the conference, the officiating President of CTA Karma Gelek said that Penpa Tsering was sacked due to “dereliction of duty”, and stated that three warnings had been sent to him in the last one year, with the last one being sent in July. Gelek refused to say what the warnings were about.
On 18 November, CTA President Lobsang Sangay during his visit to Norway said, without giving any details, that the revelation would paint a bad image. He added that it was not required for the Cabinet to reveal the reasons for the ouster, as it was the Cabinet’s prerogative to appoint and suspend any staff subordinate to it.

As pressure from the public mounted, Kashag came out with the ten-point explanation. However, the ten reasons given didn’t seem to support the severe picture painted by Sangay.
The nature of the warnings still remained unclear, as well as the specific rules Penpa Tsering was supposed to have violated.

*Penpa Tsering clarifies his stand*

When contacted for explanation about the ten points, Penpa Tsering said that the Kashag has hacked together these ten points so they could say that there were ten reasons to dismiss him.

Sticking to his claim of not having committed any mistake, he said, “I still stand by my earlier statement that I haven’t committed any mistake, and I do not accept any wrongdoing. But I am leaving office because that’s what Kashag (Cabinet) has ordered.”

“I cannot publicly discuss the issue now as I am still bound by the rules. I will be free to speak after 30 November, and I will challenge all the ten points one by one,” he said by phone.

He claimed that he received only one letter from the Cabinet that was stated as “the last warning” in July, which concerned the information that the USD 1.5 million dollars from Tibet Fund used to purchase DC office building was a loan.

He said that as reported in Tibet Sun, the issue of the 1.5 million dollars came up during the meeting of the representatives after the 5/50 Conference. “There is no truth in how Kashag has framed the charges, but I will explain about the details after leaving the office.”

“I didn’t get any any other warning letters. And the letter that said ‘last warning’ only mentioned about the loan issue. And now there are ten points accusing me of dereliction of duties. All the points they have mentioned were events that happened before the ‘last warning’ they sent.”

However, he said that he did receive two letters from the Department of Information of the International Relations, but they were not warning letters.

“One was about the appointment of Chinese liaison officer Kunga Tashi at the Office of Tibet in Washington, DC. I clarified that he would be appointed upon approval from Kashag, rather than I announce him as having appointed.

“Let alone any warning about that issue after I clarified, there was no follow up on that.”
With regard to the second letter, he said, “The other letter that I received from the Department was about a group of Shugden followers welcoming President Xi Jinping to the US in April. I was questioned about not sending a report about that. I replied to that, and if I clarify, it takes time to find out the details about who the people. But we send a report after we got all the information we could gather.”

https://www.tibetsun.com/news/2017/11/19/kashags-charges-unacceptable-representative-penpa-tsering

Celia

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Well, the explanation is just as dodgy as the allegations in the first place. But then again we are dealing mud-slinging between two very questionable characters, Lobsang Sangay & Penpa Tsering, so in a way, it is hardly surprising.

Afterall, both have been known to have their own twisted interpretation of reality and they have the tendencies to blatantly disregard facts and evidence and repeatedly harp on their own version of their story. A classic example, their denial of the existence of Dorje Shugden ban when evidence of discrimination are aplenty.

Hopefully, with the revelations of the questionable and unsavory acts of each side coming out in public due to this ugly spat, it will become clear to many that the Tibetan leadership are just a bunch of crude, unprofessional, narrow-minded and a nickel-and-dime outfit of self-serving politicians.

grandmapele

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@Celia, yes, they are self-serving alright. The whole setup is like the Stasi of east Germany in the old days. Setting neighbor against neighbor. Getting the common people to carry out the dirty work of the government - the discrimination, the stigmatization, the segregation; and then pretending knowing nothing. Despicable

Big Uncle

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Well, its pretty clear that Penpa Tsering being a Lobsang Sangay rival would be ousted in this manner. In fact, it was probably preplanned to ensure he gets a cushy job after he lost the elections to Lobsang Sangay for the Sikyong position.

Hence, he was ensure the place as the Tibetan representative in America to make sure he is happy and not to cause any trouble and eventually find something to charge him and finally get rid of him from politics. What's surprising is how soon Lobsang Sangay decided to get rid of his rival. I am sure Penpa Tsering knows this and wants to exact his revenge.

Looks like the karma of enforcing the DS ban is coming into effect. Every month there is some sort of political drama and it seems to be leading to something. Wonder what its going to be? Closure of CTA? Naturalization of the Tibetans.