Rio Tinto lawyer faces more questions as Mongolian government looks into firm's taxes
THE Mongolian government is claiming $120 million in unpaid taxes by Rio Tinto's SouthGobi Resources as part of its investigation into Australian lawyer Sarah Armstrong.
The 32-year-old legal counsel was due to face a third round of questioning last night but it remained unclear whether requests for Australian consul-general David Lawson to be present would be granted.
Ms Armstrong's former boss, Alex Molyneaux, yesterday broke his silence, but declined to provide details of the investigation under way since May.
" I wish Sarah, well, I am sure everything will work out for her," Mr Molyneaux told The Weekend Australian.
Ms Armstrong's friends in Mongolia fear she is being used a political football to gain leverage over the company in the nation's notoriously corrupt business environment and to appease rising xenophobia.
Sources said the government was investigating $120m in unpaid taxes, an issued complicated by SouthGobi having two sets of accounts to comply with Mongolian and international accounting standards.
Ms Armstrong is facing one of Mongolia's most feared investigators, Bat Khurts. The deputy chairman of the Independent Commission Against Corruption is a former chief of Mongolia's intelligence agency.
Two years ago he was arrested by British authorities on an EU arrest warrant issued by Germany for allegedly torturing a Mongolian seeking asylum in Europe. But he was released shortly after by German authorities before a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Mongolia. Months later, he was appointed the IAAC's vice-chairman.
The Mongolian government has been trying to distance itself from Ms Armstrong's case. But locals in Ulan Bator say the IAAC has been doing the government's bidding.
Ms Armstrong had been detained as a suspect since October 19 after been stopped from boarding a plane in Ulan Bator for Hong Kong.
"The IAAC has very broad powers to question, investigate and formulate charges against people," Ulan Bator lawyer D. Bold told The Weekend Australian. "While they must ultimately hand any criminal case to prosecutors, they effectively decide who gets charged with what."
ADDITIONAL REPORTING: MARK SCHLIEBS
The 32-year-old legal counsel was due to face a third round of questioning last night but it remained unclear whether requests for Australian consul-general David Lawson to be present would be granted.
Ms Armstrong's former boss, Alex Molyneaux, yesterday broke his silence, but declined to provide details of the investigation under way since May.
" I wish Sarah, well, I am sure everything will work out for her," Mr Molyneaux told The Weekend Australian.
Ms Armstrong's friends in Mongolia fear she is being used a political football to gain leverage over the company in the nation's notoriously corrupt business environment and to appease rising xenophobia.
Sources said the government was investigating $120m in unpaid taxes, an issued complicated by SouthGobi having two sets of accounts to comply with Mongolian and international accounting standards.
Ms Armstrong is facing one of Mongolia's most feared investigators, Bat Khurts. The deputy chairman of the Independent Commission Against Corruption is a former chief of Mongolia's intelligence agency.
Two years ago he was arrested by British authorities on an EU arrest warrant issued by Germany for allegedly torturing a Mongolian seeking asylum in Europe. But he was released shortly after by German authorities before a visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Mongolia. Months later, he was appointed the IAAC's vice-chairman.
The Mongolian government has been trying to distance itself from Ms Armstrong's case. But locals in Ulan Bator say the IAAC has been doing the government's bidding.
Ms Armstrong had been detained as a suspect since October 19 after been stopped from boarding a plane in Ulan Bator for Hong Kong.
"The IAAC has very broad powers to question, investigate and formulate charges against people," Ulan Bator lawyer D. Bold told The Weekend Australian. "While they must ultimately hand any criminal case to prosecutors, they effectively decide who gets charged with what."
ADDITIONAL REPORTING: MARK SCHLIEBS
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