Mongolia’s war against corruption

Recently, Transparency International’s Global Corruption Barometer surveyed that 86% of the residents think that government officials are corrupt ranking Mongolia into second place after Liberia. It is a disappointing result for the young democracy as it is warring against corruption for some time even creating an independent agency dedicated fighting corruption in the country. President Elbegdorj Tsakhia promised to intensify the fight on his inauguration recently after he was re-elected for the second term.

Perhaps the biggest fish was the former president Enkhbayar Nambar, a MPP member. The corruption cases increased after the DP won the parliamentary election. Shocking numbers were reveled on these cases. USD17 million was found in the apartment of former State Secretary of the Ministry of Health, MNT14 billion recovered in the account of former department head of Tax Authority, also former MPP secretary had 26 accounts that had transaction of over USD300 million over the years.

On one hand we can see these corruption cases as fight against corruption, however, in the other hand, it can be seen as a fight against the former ruling party, MPP. Practically, MPP has dominated the political scene for over a decade. The mess, mismanagement, and corruption of the past years is being reveled.

However, we cannot avoid mentioning MP S.Bayartsogt, who have admitted of having an undisclosed Swiss account and a company in BV. He is a long-standing DP member, and a former Finance Minister when the OT agreement was signed. After it was revealed that he didn’t disclose the account in his income report, he was just resigned from his position as a vice speaker. The Prosecutor’s office denied his revocation from the parliament. Still, the president publicly announced that S.Bayartsogt should resign from the parliament and go through the investigation voluntarily.

Another MPP member T.Bilegt who was a Chairman of City Council a close affiliate of N.Enkhbayar is being accused of state property embezzlement. He ran away after N.Enkhbayar was arrested and came back after two years after those charges were dropped from N.Enkhbayar. Few hours after his return he was arrested and put under investigation. He claimed that he never knew that he was wanted by police and interpol. In connection to his return, N.Enkbayar’s wife O.Tsolmon was questioned and all of N.Enkhabyar’s family properties are sealed. Journalists are reporting that perhaps there were new developments on T.Bilegt’s charge.

Before the presidential election, some MPs have asked to audit Erdenet JVC as it is a giant state-owned mine that has been in operation for years. Ch.Ganzorig, General Director of the company has been arrested recently after Naadam festival. The assumed charges are guaranteeing loan for private companies in the amounts of millions.

Mongolia’s war against corruption continues in the scale that has never been seen before.