Death of Dangasuren the head of the IAAC

                               

 

    

Mystery now surrounds the death of the Chief Commissar of Mongolia’s Independent Agency Against Corruption (IAAC), Baasain Dangaarsuren who died in Australia on October 25 2007.He was in Australia to attend the World Bank funded Australian Public Sector Anti Corruption Conference held during 22-29 October. Dangaasuren was reportedly staying with a Mongolian family in Sydney, part of a 400 strong Mongolian Community now in Australia’s biggest city.

Sha. Batbayar the Spokesman for the Democratic Party of Mongolia claimed on local TV in Mongolia that B. Dangaarsuren was murdered by Mongolians to cover up his recent public announcements of 84 big corruption cases, 56 of which involved the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, the party of President Enkhbayar. The timing of his public announcements coincided with the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party Congress and involved television and newspaper advertisements.

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 Sha. Batbayar Democratic party of Mongolia Spokesman and former health Minister

Mongolian Officials were required to lodge an income statement with the IAAC .40, 858 out of 42,096 officials complied with this request including the President.

 “Those who have not complied with the law would be subject to removal from public service under the Anti Corruption Law of Mongolia and the law on public service,” “The accuracy of the statements is another issue. The IAAC will investigate whether the statements are true or not only if we get a formal request to check the statement of a person, or if there is a formal complaint that somebody has submitted an incorrect statement,” said Dangaasuren.

President Enkhbayar a former graduate of Leeds University recently declared his income in the UB Post English language newspaper. The story claimed his annual income was $3,000 USD, but he owned 65 horses worth $65,000! Strangely his wife Tsolmoo had a substantially larger income than him. He owns around 40% of Aeromongolia, TV9 television station, Zuuni Medee newspaper, and is an undeclared partner and board member of the MCS Company. MCS has huge real estate interests; they run power stations, coca cola, tiger beer and Xara vodka. He allegedly misappropriates aid money along with most other Mongolian politicians and officials and is amassing a huge personal fortune. Mongolian “businessmen “have a shameful record of corruption and abuse and nothing can be done in Mongolia without the payment of bribes.

An Ex pat blogger “Ulaanbanjo’ comments on the UB Post income declaration article.

“The returned figures show how progressive Mongolia's MPs are in promoting women's rights, against a culture which generally puts women in second place: the majority of MPs earn less than their wives. Considerably less in many cases. Prime Minister Enkhbold earned a very modest 3.2 million Tugrik - around $3,000 - last year, while the Prime Minister's wife brought home Tg24.2 million. L. Gundalai MP, chairman of the Popular Party, registered his earnings at Tg3 million , Mrs. L. Gundalai is doing a bit better with Tg74 million, although even her paycheck doesn't seem to account for how the minister acquired his Toyota Land cruiser, Mercedes Benz, six motor boats, three horses and Tg500 million of shares in the SOS Medica Hospital. I guess, contrary to the general economic trend in the country, 2006/7 was a lean year for MPs. B. Erdenbat has the pretty thankless task of Minister of Fuel and Energy, earning him a paltry Tg3.2 million. His immediate family managed to improve on this with Tg66.3 million. And I guess if times get hard he can always fall back on his Tg17.2 billion worth of shares in Erel bank, Erel Insurance and assorted companies or sell one of his two Mercedes Benz 500s, or his Lexus 470 jeep, two Land Cruiser 100L jeeps or maybe one of his pair of Hummers.

Well, the list goes on (Supreme Court judge A. Batsaikhan has 20 pigs) and can be seen on the UB Post's website. It's interesting reading, and clearly shows that the law against MPs owning businesses is not achieving much”.

The Mongolian Parliament approved increased powers for the IAAC by adopting the  “Amendment of the Criminal Procedures Code”, it adds the IAAC to the list of investigative bodies, which previously included the Criminal Police, the General Intelligence Agency, and the Special Investigative Unit under the Attorney General’s Office. 

“According to the amendment, below are the criminal offences that the IAAC now has jurisdiction to investigate (articles referenced):
263            Abuse of power or position by an official of the State
264            Exceeding, by an official of the State, his/her power
265            Abuse of power or position by an official of an NGO or business entity
266            Exceeding, by an official of an NGO or business entity, his/her power
268.1         Receiving bribes
269            Offering bribes
270.2         Intermediation in bribery
273.2         Expenditure of [public] budget for undesignated purposes

The supplemental appropriation boosted the total IAAC budget to MNT 1,901,680,000 (approx. $1.6 million) from the initial appropriation of approximately $300,000.”

 The Asia Foundation a supposed nongovernment organization has been conducting” semi-annual corruption benchmarking surveys”. Asia Foundation Director William Foerderer Infante said in the Mongol Messenger on Wednesday November 28^th “The patterns over the past two years are favourable, with progressive though modest improvement in key areas”.Mr. Infante was interviewed on Eagle TV on December 1 and spent most of the interview justifying foreign mining interests and expressing US pride in being Mongolia’s “Third Neighbor”.

A Conference called “Strengthening World Bank Group, Engagement on Governance and Anti Corruption” was held in Mongolia during December 2006 and January 2007. Participants identified some of the many problems facing Mongolian society.

GOVERNMENT

Mr. Lundeejantsan – Deputy Parliament Speaker and Member of Parliament

Mr. Munkh-Orgil- Member of Parliament, Head of the Legal Standing Committee

Mr. Dangaasuren-Head of the Anti-Corruption Agency

Mr. Altangerel -Head Administration Department, AC Agency,

DONORS

Mr. Adrian Ruthernberg-Country Director, ADB

Mr. Martin Marschke-Country director, GTZ

Mr. Barry Primm-Representative, USAID

Mr. William Foerderer Infante-Country Representative, Asia Foundation

Mr. Tsutomu Moriya-Resident Representative, JICA

Mr. Yasuyoshi Ichihashi –Ambassador, Embassy of Japan

Mr. John Chomel-Doe, Head of Resident Office, EBRD

“PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT AND COMMUNITY

- Corruption in public institutions such as universities, hospitals, cadastre office, custom, police and etc.

- Weak accountability mechanism in the Government level due to conflicts and disputes among political parties in the Parliament.

- Weak governance that encourages existence of corruption.

- Implementation of law and its regulatory framework is weak.

- Government operation and decision making process are too centralized

- Political and business oligarchy is existing in the Government. Need to separate businesses and industries from the politics.

- Lack of information

- Weak civil service is becoming a cause of corruption due to poor, unqualified and bureaucratic services.

- Mindset and attitude of government officials should be changed.

-Government operations, legal and decision making process are not transparent.”

 Mongolia is not a poor country it has massive mining reserves and receives large amounts of aid money for its population of 2.7 million people, but an estimated 40% of the population lives in poverty. With an average wage of around $150 USD per month and rising inflation, the new wealthy who gained control of Mongolia’s assets after the Russians left in 1991 have opened up a huge chasm of wealth and indifference, leaving behind those who have nothing and no safety net.

         

             Prince Andrew leaves the Khan Palace Hotel June 2007

Rio Tinto is a major partner in the Oyo Tolgoi copper and gold mining project worth an estimated 3-4 billion dollars. The British Royal family is a shareholder and Prince Andrew was hired by Rio Tinto in June 2007 to come to Mongolia and entertain President Enkhbayar, Robert Freidland (Ivanhoe mining Executive) and other officials. According to a former USAID employee President Enkhbayar and Freidland tried to take the Prince to the Marco Polo strip club and brothel but he wasn’t interested.

 George Bush and President Enkhbayar recently signed off on the Millennium Challenge Account compact which will give Mongolia $285 million USD.This account is supposed to be spent on alleviating poverty. $188.3 million will be spent on the railway system, and the creation of the Millennium Challenge Corporation will facilitate the funds.

 Two former heads of Mongolian Railway Company Mongol Tomorzam were “accidently gassed” on a fishing trip with a jeep load of associates. Miraculously the others in the car were completely unaffected by the cars exhaust gas. An article titled “The last Gas”  was published in Mongolia detailing the disappearance of large amounts of money from the Railway Company which coincidently involved the gassing victims.

 For Mongolia to qualify for the Millennium Challenge grant it had to prove that it had implemented new anti corruption measures. The U.S. Embassy’s Deputy Chief of Mission (DCM) Brian Goldbeck emphasized that Mongolia must continue to make progress against corruption in order to remain eligible for MCA funding.   The Millennium Challenge Corporation used President Enkhbayar’s TV9 for its promotional show on December 18^th.They presented a show celebrating the 20 years of friendship between Mongolia and America and congratulated Mongolia for implementing new anti corruption measures. The new IAAC building opening in August and the recent big push to suddenly improve the power of the IAAC seems to have been

New IAAC building in Seoul Avenue Ulaanbaatar

done to ensure the payment of the Millennium Challenge funds. This push seemed to coincide with the Asia Foundation’s corruption surveys. It now seems that once the Millennium Challenge funds have been signed off the IAAC once again becomes seriously weakened by the suspicious death of Dangaasuren and the deafening silence that followed.

The Asia Foundation (TAF) posted an update on its Mongolian Anti Corruption Support (MACS) program on Tuesday September 18, 2007 37 days before Dangaasuren’s death.

“Travel is planned under the MACS project in September and October, and will include an ADB/OECD conference on Mutual Legal Assistance.  The Official representatives include ACA Commissioner, Mr.Dangaasuren, and an MOJHA representative, whose costs will be supported by the conference promoters.  The Foundation will support travel for an additional four ACA representatives “They also acknowledged the involvement of the World Bank.

“The cost of the campaign exceeds the funds that are available under the MACS project, and thus TAF is well-advanced in negotiations with the World Bank which has expressed interest and capacity to cost-share on this important effort”.

 The worst case scenario is that the Asia Foundation and World Bank may have payed for Dangaasuren’s killers to accompany him to Australia. Many Mongolians believe that he was killed and that it’s a normal part of Mongolian Political life. The Asia Foundation and World Bank seem so fixated on implementing their programs that they are ignoring their own rules for eligibility. The never ending hypocrisy and hidden agendas of US Foreign policy has now permeated into Mongolia. World Bank representatives were in Mongolia this year talking up investment in Afghanistan which has massive copper reserves which will be mined after their little problem is resolved.

Bush first visited Mongolia on November 21 2005, he stayed for 4 hours to drop off $11 million USD as a part payment for the Third Neighbor Program which includes America’s stated aim of building 4 Military bases in Mongolia. He praised Mongolia’s Democracy and recently thanked them for their troops in Iraq.

James Baker the former US Secretary of State has also been to Mongolia, his son was reportedly an executive with Ivanhoe Mining, Rio Tintos’ major partner. Mining insiders say that Baker and his son were paid a huge amount of money to influence the Mongolian Government and were given use of Ivanhoe’s plane and that Baker’s son wasn’t an executive with Ivanhoe. Some senior Mongolian Politicians deny that Bush gave any money, contrary to the White House press release and most Mongolians have never heard of the Third Neighbor Policy.

            

 President Bush and President Enkhbayar                                           Donald Rumsfeld in Mongolia

 November 2005 Ulaanbaatar Mongolia

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Its 6.30am on Monday morning the 5^th November at the Central Culture Palace alongside Sukhbaatar Square, it’s around -20c and President Enkhbayar.D.Lundeejantsan the Speaker of the Parliament and Prime Minister M. Enkhbold along with many other dignitaries and relatives and friends have gathered to farewell a much respected Public Official. The flat and emotionless faces of the Politicians precede a large framed portrait of Dangaarsuren and then the coffin containing his mutilated body passes on its way to the National Cemetery at Altan Olgii. The deceased Dangaasuren was born in Manhan Sum, Hovd Aimag in 1951. He graduated as a Lawyer at the State University of Irkutsk, Russia. He served as Deputy Head of the Ulaanbaatar City Court, Judge of the State Supreme Court, Chairman of the Criminal Colleague Office, Member of the Constitutional Court and the First Deputy Director of the Research Center of the State Supreme Court.

His body arrived at Chinggis Khan Airport on November 3 aboard a Korean Airlines flight. Dangaasuren’s body was in a cardboard box and was heavily taped. His eyes and other body parts were missing and only discovered after his body arrived back in Mongolia .His wife and brother went to Australia immediately after his death. An autopsy was apparently done by an Australian doctor with no Mongolians present and the family doesn’t have the results.

 The Mongolian Consul in Australia, Peter Sloan described the story as very interesting but some of the Statements do not relate to the facts as he knows them. He was reported in Mongolia as saying that Dangaasuren’s eyes were missing when his body was first admitted to hospital in Australia. If he was reported accurately this raises many questions regarding Dangaasuren’s death. Sha. Batbayar is now calling for more information from the Australian authorities.

Sha. Batbayar the Democratic Party Spokesman and former Health Minister is also a Doctor and talked about how Dangaarsuren was a diabetic and was supposedly found dead in the bathroom of his Mongolian host family. He questions the lack of response by the Mongolian Government and the failure to send investigators to Australia.

 Sha. Batbayar claims that the autopsy results were given to a Mongolian female employee of the Ministry of Economics who was staying in Australia for one month. She had no official role and wasn’t part of the World Bank funded anti corruption conference. He claims Peter Sloan the Mongolian Consul in Australia gave the letter to her because she was heading back to Mongolia immediately. To date there has been no release of this information.

 Sha. Batbayar and B. Baabar the founder of the Democratic Party and renowned Historian have recently finished writing a book on Mongolia’s legendary corruption. It details over 200 major corruption scandals most involving President Enkhbayar .B.Baabar says President Enkhbayar’s level of personal wealth via corruption is approaching $100 million USD.

 The Ollo website in Mongolia has numerous posted comments saying that Dangaasuren died during 24-25 October. They also claim that he was alive when admitted to Hospital and was talking to an Australian Doctor prior to his death. Dangaasuren’s brother claims that one of the 7 Mongolians who attended the Australian Conference was a translator and in the hospital he deliberately failed to translate Dangaasuren’s words accurately.

 Dangaasuren’s deputy Dorjpalam is one of Mongolia’s senior Police officers and travelled to Australia with Dangaarsuren. He is second in command of the Mongolian Police Force which is headed by General B.Tserenbaltav a former member of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party and great friend of President Enkhbayar.

B. Tserenbaltav came to Australia in 2006 to attend a similar conference. His daughter Ts. Tuvshinzaya is a Professor of international Law at the Mongolian National University. She runs a false visa documents business that works in conjunction with Khos Bagana a notorious introduction agency run by 12 of Mongolia’s leading business women. They operate in 15 countries including Australia and run sex tours for Japanese and Koreans who are sent to Mongolia by the brother of Nara one of the 12 directors. He lives in Korea and runs the office there. Tserenbaltav stamps these false documents after his daughter has charged the victims $250 USD.

Tserenbaltav was awarded the diploma of honor of the State Rehabilitation Commission D.Lundeejantsan, Vice Parliament Speaker and Head of the State Rehabilitation Commission, handed over award to a number of persons who make great effort to the rehabilitation of the political victims, to restoration of their prestige, and to providing them and their close relatives with social care services.

. Part of a false visa application document

Dangaarsuren was able to hand pick his new staff in the IAAC but President Enkhbayar placed his old friend Dorjpalam as Deputy Chief. Both men had received invitations to the conference but were surprised when there was no accommodation arranged for them so they stayed for 3 days with Dorjpalam’s brother who lives in Sydney. Sha. Batbayar refutes this account as the conference is funded by the World Bank and all attendees are very well catered for including accommodation.

 Ch. Sumiyabazar the Editor of the UB Post wrote on Thursday 13^th December 2007 ”Dangaasuren died during an official visit in Australia of unknown reasons, Relatives of the deceased said they would file a legal petition against Dangaasuren’s fellow workers, who were with him in Australia, as some organs, including his eyes, were missing. The Ministry of Health formally requested the Australian side to clarify why the eyes of the deceased are missing from his body. Dangaasuren, 56, was found dead on October 24, 2007 in a bathroom of his host family, where he and his fellow colleagues had dinner together there and spent the night. He was in Sydney as leader of a Mongolian delegation to an international anti-corruption conference”.

 Dorjpalam had previously worked for President Enkhbayar before his new appointment in the IAAC; he was also a former lecturer at the Mongolian Police Academy. President Enkhbayar likes to appoint his loyal supporters to key positions in all areas of Mongolian society.

 Dorjpalam was head of the Darkhan Police in 1983. Darkhan is Mongolia’s second largest city a few hours’ drive to the north. Dorjpalam was widely suspected of being involved in the murder of a famous old politician named Tomorochir. Tomorochir had survived imprisonment during the Stalin era and apparently knew too much about the activities of his colleagues in the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party. He was also involved in factional fighting within the MPRP and Russia. Sha. Batbayar directly accused Dorjpalam of being implicated in the murder of Tomorochir.

Tomorochir was killed in 1985 and according to B. Baabar he was killed because he knew the identity of the murderer of Tsendenbal a leader of the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party who was killed a few years earlier allegedly by a Russian Doctor. The Darkhan Police were unable to solve the murder of Tomorochir and blamed it on some unknown drunk people in spite of his wife Ninjbadgar being lured back to Ulaanbaatar in an elaborate plan.

Another shameful incident in opposing the Revolutionary Party was the murder in 1999 of Zorig the former Democratic Party M.P. He also knew too much about his political contempories.A man and a woman named Oyun and Bat entered his apartment at dinner time and in front of his wife hacked Zorig to death with an axe, the same way that Tomorochir met his death. They were seen leaving by 2 students but unfortunately this case was added to the growing file of unsolved political murders in Mongolia.

B. Baabar says that the same type of axe was used in both murders and was laid down on the ground in the manner of an old style Mongolian murder. He says the murder of Tomorochir was done by the KGB and Zorig was murdered because he was the Minister of Industry and opposed the Russian secret privatization of their 49% share of the Erdenet Copper mine and was furious when he found out .This murder resulted in a particularly appalling incident even by Mongolian standards. The United Nations Commission on Human Rights sent an investigator to Mongolia during 6-9^th June 2005 to investigate the following events.

“COMMISSION ON HUMAN RIGHTS

Sixty-second session

Item 11 (a) of the provisional agenda

CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS, INCLUDING: THE QUESTIONS OF TORTURE AND DETENTION

Report by the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Manfred Nowak

MISSION TO MONGOLIA *

By letters dated 20 July and 2 August 2005, the Special Rapporteur notified the Government of allegations by the following persons, whom he interviewed during the mission.

The Government responded to some by letter dated 22 September 2005:

Enkhbat Damiran, aged 44 (subject of a previously transmitted communication for which no response has been received; see E/CN.4/2004/56/Add.1, para. 1021). On about 15 May 2003, Enkhbat Damiran, who was seeking asylum in France at the time, was beaten by officers of the General Intelligence Agency (GIA) of Mongolia outside a restaurant in Paris, smuggled across the French border in a Mongolian embassy vehicle to Brussels, and then to the Mongolian embassy in Berlin. He was held at the embassy for one night and was tortured by Mongolian agents before he was drugged and boarded in a wheelchair onto a Mongolian MIAT flight to Ulaanbaatar on 18 May. His entry into Ulaanbaatar was not registered by the border police and he was taken to a secret location outside the capital. He was tortured, unsuccessfully, to confess to the murder of the well-known politician Zorig Sanjasuuren, a former Minister of Infrastructure and a recognized champion of the democracy movement. On 24 May he was registered as a GIA informant and his entry into Mongolia was subsequently registered by the police as 25 May. During his torture, Enkhbat Damiran was, among other things, forced to sit on a stool for hours, beaten on the liver with a pistol, and was subjected to mock executions.”

“Enkhbat Damiran should be fully supported by the Government. It is of the utmost importance that the whole truth about this highly delicate case is revealed to the public and the European countries concerned. It is also necessary that the perpetrators of all human rights violations in this case be brought to justice.”

Recently 11 Co-operatives have been investigated for stealing contributors hard earned money 9 of these were found to have serious irregularities The investigator  S. Badraa was stabbed and killed by Ts.Tumengerel the leader of the Construction of the Ger District Co-operative and he faces a murder charge. Protesters maintain a year round vigil outside the Department of Foreign Affairs building showing enlarged copies of fraudulent documents signed by their leaders; many have lost their life savings and have nothing left. They urge people to sign a petition. In 2006 a male protestor set fire to himself in Sukhbaatar Square.

The present leader of the Democratic Party and former Prime Minister Elbegdorj has recently returned to work after treatment in a USA Hospital. During the summer of 2007 his car was deliberately rammed at night by a rider less motorcycle with no lights in an attempt to kill him. His driver died later as a result of this murder attempt. No one was implicated in this “accident”.

 
Dangaarsuren had recently written an open letter to the people of Mongolia saying” Only you can stop corruption “The staff at the IAAC want this statement to be his legacy. He was only in his new job 4-5 months and he had a huge impact on endemic corruption in Mongolia.

He also wrote: “Don’t believe if one would try to explain that the Orkhon River has been cut and that Ulaan Tsutgalan waterfall has dried up due to global warming. It might happen due to corruption and bribery, enough! How long shall we be tolerant, let’s root out corruption before it destroys all of us. Shoulder to shoulder and hand in hands let’s fight corruption that hinders our progress and accelerates poverty.”

 President Enkhbayar meanwhile faces elections next year and yet another suspicious case will soon be forgotten.Ch. Sumiyabazar the Editor of the UB Post and author of President Enkhbayar’s income statement wrote on Thursday 13^th December 2007. “Local media outlets predict former chief officer of the National Human Right Committee, S.Tserendorj, is the most likely candidate to be appointed as Chief Commissioner of the anti-corruption agency. The second likely person is B.Tserenbaltav, a General Prosecutor of Mongolia. The position is expected to be filled before Christmas”.

Dorjpalam had disappeared from public view and wasn’t making any comments to the media and requests for interviews and photographs from the IAAC have been denied. But on Christmas eve Dorjpalam held a press conference with President Enkhbayar’s TV9 in which he said he was leaving the IAAC because of the corruption there and that he was a good Police officer. Two other employees of the IAAC who went with Dangaasuren to Australia have left their jobs according to a television interview with Sha. Batbayar on Saturday 15^th December.

 The resources boom and new found freedom since the Russians have departed have plunged Mongolia into a type of anarchy based on the three Buddhist evils of violence, ignorance and greed. America wants strategic military bases and foreign companies in conjunction with Mongolian “businessmen” are busy raping the country. Optimists call this a transition stage but where will a transition with no effective law and order take Mongolia?