Mongolian People’s Party points to Mongol Bank as culprit behind the economic crisis

The parliamentary caucus of the Mongolian’s People’s Party (MPP) met on May 29 to discuss the findings of the Mongol Bank investigation that revealed a reported deficit of three trillion MNT, with party members ultimately agreeing to draft a parliamentary resolution regarding the issue.

The resolution will attempt to hold the former administration of Mongol Bank accountable for actions that caused massive financial losses for the government. Those actions include illegal procurement for the Price Stabilization Project, insufficient regulation of the project, and the alleged misappropriation of funds.

“Looking at the findings of the investigation, the operations of Mongol Bank have been the main culprit behind the economic crisis. Seeing as many of the projects and agendas that Mongol Bank implemented were illegal, we believe that the former administration must be held accountable,” said the Chair of the MPP caucus D.Khayankhyarvaa.

D.Khayankhyarvaa addressed criticism of the Democratic Party being excluded from the investigation and accusations that the findings were politically motivated.

“When the MPP was a minority in Parliament, we asked the Speaker of Parliament for an investigation of Mongol Bank several times and achieved no concrete action. Members of the Democratic Party can dismiss the findings of the investigation all they want,” said D.Khayankhyarvaa.

He added that the current President of Mongol Bank, N.Bayartsaikhan, has verified that the findings of the investigation are in line with an audit of the operations of Mongol Bank from 2012 to 2016 that was conducted by international organizations.

T.Ayursaikhan, head of the parliamentary working group tasked with investigating Mongol Bank said that claims that the Democratic Party was excluded are baseless, as the creation of the working group was discussed by the Economic Standing Committee and seven MPs volunteered to join the group.

“Mongol Bank financed illegal loans with low interest rates for the implementation of the Price Stabilization Project, the ' Good' projects, and the 11th ASEM Summit. Once the market was flooded with money, the purchasing power of the MNT decrease drastically, causing deficits for banks,” explained T.Ayursaikhan.

The working group has concluded that in 2011, Mongol Bank had a profit of 179 billion MNT and started experiencing deficits in 2012. At the end of 2016, the accumulated deficit of Mongol Bank reached 3.19 trillion MNT.