Standard Bank consultant barred from leaving Mongolia
MONGOLIA has placed a travel ban on a New Zealand national, who is consulting for Standard Bank Group, amid an escalation in a dispute with a local firm over a debt repayment.
Chris Bradley was part of a five-person team from Africa’s biggest lender that visited Ulaanbaatar in November to seek talks with the government over $131m in loans to Just Group, a holding company, said two people familiar with the matter.
The people asked not to be named because they are not authorised to speak publicly.
A spokesman for the bank in Johannesburg, Ross Linstrom, confirmed on December 4 that Mr Bradley had not been allowed to leave Mongolia. "Standard Bank is co-operating with the Mongolian authorities and therefore believes it inappropriate to comment any further at this stage," Mr Linstrom said.
Standard Bank alleges the loans are in default and filed a lawsuit in July in a London court seeking repayment. Standard’s loans were made between 2007 and 2010 to Just Group to fund raw materials supplies and debt repayments at state-controlled Erdenet Mining and Ulaanbaatar Railways, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg News.
Mr Bradley said by phone on December 2 that he had been due to depart Mongolia on November 29, but "is restricted by the authorities from leaving."
Mr Bradley said he was advised of his situation by local police and that he is a suspect in an investigation.
Tugsbayar Nasankhuu, a captain in the national police agency’s press and information division, declined to comment on December 4.
"I went in gladly to assist the police and compare notes," said Mr Bradley. "We are focusing on the commercial aspects of this transaction and they are focusing on the criminal aspects. The two, although linked, are also running in parallel."
Mongolia has barred foreign executives from leaving the country during investigations into companies before. Justin Kapla, a US citizen and then-president of coal miner SouthGobi Sands, was banned from leaving at the end of last year and is still in the country, after Mongolia’s Independent Authority Against Corruption launched a probe into the company’s mining licenses.
Just Group’s controlling shareholder Sharavlamdan Batkhuu and other companies in the group have defaulted on loans since 2011, said director of the banking supervision department at Mongol Bank, the nation’s central bank, Danjilaa Ganbat, in July.
He was speaking after Just Group’s Savings Bank was declared insolvent due to affiliated companies defaulting on loans. Batkhuu and Just Group are among the defendants in the Standard Bank lawsuit.
Bloomberg
Chris Bradley was part of a five-person team from Africa’s biggest lender that visited Ulaanbaatar in November to seek talks with the government over $131m in loans to Just Group, a holding company, said two people familiar with the matter.
The people asked not to be named because they are not authorised to speak publicly.
A spokesman for the bank in Johannesburg, Ross Linstrom, confirmed on December 4 that Mr Bradley had not been allowed to leave Mongolia. "Standard Bank is co-operating with the Mongolian authorities and therefore believes it inappropriate to comment any further at this stage," Mr Linstrom said.
Standard Bank alleges the loans are in default and filed a lawsuit in July in a London court seeking repayment. Standard’s loans were made between 2007 and 2010 to Just Group to fund raw materials supplies and debt repayments at state-controlled Erdenet Mining and Ulaanbaatar Railways, according to a document obtained by Bloomberg News.
Mr Bradley said by phone on December 2 that he had been due to depart Mongolia on November 29, but "is restricted by the authorities from leaving."
Mr Bradley said he was advised of his situation by local police and that he is a suspect in an investigation.
Tugsbayar Nasankhuu, a captain in the national police agency’s press and information division, declined to comment on December 4.
"I went in gladly to assist the police and compare notes," said Mr Bradley. "We are focusing on the commercial aspects of this transaction and they are focusing on the criminal aspects. The two, although linked, are also running in parallel."
Mongolia has barred foreign executives from leaving the country during investigations into companies before. Justin Kapla, a US citizen and then-president of coal miner SouthGobi Sands, was banned from leaving at the end of last year and is still in the country, after Mongolia’s Independent Authority Against Corruption launched a probe into the company’s mining licenses.
Just Group’s controlling shareholder Sharavlamdan Batkhuu and other companies in the group have defaulted on loans since 2011, said director of the banking supervision department at Mongol Bank, the nation’s central bank, Danjilaa Ganbat, in July.
He was speaking after Just Group’s Savings Bank was declared insolvent due to affiliated companies defaulting on loans. Batkhuu and Just Group are among the defendants in the Standard Bank lawsuit.
Bloomberg
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