Jail time for former Chairman of Mineral Resources Authority

A trial was held at 461 Detention center over the course of three days for D.Batkhuyag, the former chairman of the Mineral Resources Authority, N.Davaatsogt, the former Head of the Office for Geological and Mining Cadastre of the Mineral Resources Authority, D.Batkhuyag`s friend, N.Jargalsaikhan and N.Batireedui, Directors of Zelem LLC.

Bayangol District Court judges revisited the case related to the four suspects and sentenced D.Batkhuyag to a 6.6 year jail term. The sentences to the three other suspects will be announced by the Court today.

The Anti-Corruption Authority determined that D.Batkhuyag, the former chairman of the Mineral Resources Authority, issued over 120 mining licenses illegally and reissued four suspended licenses to Southgobi Sands. Inspectors from the Mineral Resource Authority concluded that five expired licenses for Southgobi Sands should be cancelled during the investigation.

D.Batkhuyag as the chairman of the Mineral Resource Authority reissued four of the expired licenses. The remaining license was transferred to the director of the Zelem Company, N.Jargalsaikhan, along with the former Head of the Office for Geological and Mining Cadastre of the Mineral Resources Authority, N.Davaatsogt, which violated a decree of mineral exploration license limitation set by the National Security Council.