In regard with the emergency regime set at Erdenet Mining Corporation, head of the Cabinet Secretariat of Government L.Oyun-Erdene was interviewed on March 6.

- Nine officials have been just released from their duties and their rooms have been sealed. Does it mean that powers of these officials are being transferred into the Government?

-An emergency regime has been set to stop disturbance to conduct normal operations of Erdenet Mining Corporation (EMC) and make changes in its structure and composition as the Board of Director of EMC is incapable to function. It makes troubles to resolve debt issues regarding Standard Bank. Moreover, the EMC is unable to conduct its business plan normally, expend money and resolve staff issues. Since it is a vital issue concerning the national security of Mongolia and budget, the Government issued a resolution to set emergency regime.

Government is responsible to implement parliamentary resolutions. In other words, the Parliament issued a resolution No:23 that instructs the government to resolve disputes by means of negotiations. To resolve the disputes, it necessitated to conduct an intelligence operation within relevant laws because there are many issues arisen regarding how much money the Trade and Development Bank spent, how much of it was taken from the State, by what financial sources the 49 percent shares of EMC was purchased, and why then-Government was preferential without having the stake purchase matter discussed at the Parliament. Now, it is under scrutiny to make them clear. There is also an issue of financial scheme. Earlier, a working group of the Parliament worked on this matter. According to unclassified documents that the working group has had or documents that the Government and BoD of Erdenet obtain, it evidenced that the funding was made from five sources. However, there are many unclear things. There are some issues need to be investigated and issues in connection with money laundering. For instance, there are cases that some companies were given preference when making the agreement of supply and selecting bid, and that have not executed their duties given by the agreement. Therefore, some rooms of EMC have been sealed to inspect such issues.

-How will the emergency regime influence on EMC’s operations?

-It will not affect normal operation of EMC. The Government used to implement emergency regime before. For EMC, it will be for six months. If the issues are not resolved within this period, the Parliament has the right to extend the period.

- Will somebody be appointed instead of the officials released from their posts?

-First of all, its structure has become quite compact. There will not be anyone on these positions for six months. No one will be appointed. Moreover, the EMC’s Board of Director will not call its meetings. During this period, we will urgently resolve 11 issues. There are many other issues such as debt to Standard Bank and signature forgery.

BY ORKHON

Published Date:2019-03-08