8chan/8kun QResearch Posts (1)
#3758254 at 2018-11-06 16:08:12 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #4774: Prayers For The Day Ahead Editon
A scandal in Mongolia: heads roll in government after US$1.3m SME fund embezzlement
Mongolia's anti-corruption authority is investigating reports that senior government officials and parliamentarians channelled more than US$1 million in government money to their families and friends, with one minister resigning last week and another expected to step down soon.
The money was from a fund set up 18 years ago to offer loans at 3 per cent interest to owners of small and medium-sized enterprises, as banks and finance companies normally charge between 12 and 30 per cent.
Some 65 billion Mongolian tugrik (US$25.4 million) was allocated to the fund in the 2018 budget.
However, starting two weeks ago it was revealed in reports leaked to the Ikon news website that some of the resource-rich country's most powerful people have been using the fund to grant loans to their family members' companies, or putting the money in high-interest bearing accounts.
Among the accused are government ministers, members of parliament, the general prosecutor, general auditor, and the former head of the intelligence authority.
Amid mounting public anger, four civil servants involved in administering the fund were arrested last Friday.
Last week, Food, Agriculture and Light Industry Minister Batjargal Batzorig, who oversaw the SME fund, resigned under pressure from the ruling Mongolian People's Party (MPP), which controls 85 per cent of the country's 76-seat parliament. Parliament officially dismissed him on Tuesday.
https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/2171965/scandal-mongolia-heads-roll-government-after-us13m-sme-fund