Legislature rejects prosecutor’s request to revoke B.Batzorig’s immunity

On November 5, General Prosecutor M.Enkh-Amgalan put forward a request to revoke lawmaker B.Batzorig’s immunity to Speaker of Parliament M.Enkhbold to investigate the recent controversial issues regarding the small and medium-sized enterprises’ loan misappropriation.

Under Section 29.3 of the Constitution states, “An issue related to a lawmaker who was involved in a crime shall be discussed and decided by a parliamentary session on whether his or her powers and immunity should be suspended or not,” and Section 6.11 of the Act of Parliament states, “After receiving the general prosecutor’s proposal to revoke a lawmaker’s immunity, Parliament must make a decision on it within two days,” lawmakers reviewed the general prosecutor’s request on November 7.

During the session, 86.8 percent of lawmakers in attendance voted against the general prosecutor’s proposal, and B.Batzorig upheld his immunity.

Parliament’s Immunity Subcommittee made up of five lawmakers, who were elected five times in legislature, met on November 6 to review General Prosecutor M.Enkh-Amgalan’s proposal.

As the immunity subcommittee’s five members unanimously voted against the proposal, the subcommittee submitted its report on the November 6 meeting to the legal standing and state structure standing committees for reviews.

Under the law, the two standing committees reviewed the proposal on November 6, and both did not support the revocation of the immunity of lawmaker B.Batzorig.

In his statement, General Prosecutor M.Enkh-Amgalan noted that through his order dated May 14, B.Batzorig allowed 134 individuals and entities to take out loans worth 74.1 billion MNT from the Fund to Develop Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, and 82 individuals and entities took out loans worth 25.4 billion MNT from the fund under B.Batzorig’s order dated August 24.

He stated that a criminal case was opened for lawmaker B.Batzorig for abusing his power by issuing loans from the fund, and the Independent Authority Against Corruption is investigating this case under the control of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Capital.

The majority of the lawmakers in attendance believe that investigating lawmaker B.Batzorig without revoking his immunity will not influence the prosecutor’s investigation as B.Batzorig will give the prosecutor a testimony whenever prosecutor deems required.

...The majority of the lawmakers in attendance believe that investigating lawmaker B.Batzorig without revoking his immunity will not influence the prosecutor’s investigation as B.Batzorig will give the prosecutor a testimony whenever prosecutor deems required...