Nambar Enkhbayar
4 August 2012. Former Mongolian President Nambar Enkhbayar has been sentenced to four years in jail for corruption. After a three-day trial, on Thursday, a Mongolian court found him guilty of misappropriating gifts intended for a monastery and illegally privatising a hotel along with other corruption charges. The court originally sentenced him to seven years, but reduced it by three years, citing an amnesty law. Enkhbayar formed a breakaway Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party last year, splitting from the ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP), the oldest in the country which held power during the Soviet era. The case disqualified Mr. Enkhbayar as a candidate for June’s parliamentary election, which he hoped would provide a launch pad for his return to national politics after losing a 2009 presidential election. But he remains as the chairman of the MPRP, which won the third-largest block of seats in parliament and was invited into a coalition that would form a government with the Democratic Party, which won the most votes but not a majority. “The coalition parliamentarians will fight to free Chairman Enkhbayar and there may be further concessions from the Democratic Party to the Justice Coalition.” The analysts say that the current coalition makeup shows a possible shift in Mongolia’s governing philosophy toward “resource nationalism,” or limits on foreign participation in the country’s coal, copper and other mining operations. Mongolia has been one of the fastest-growing economies in the world in recent years, with foreign investment representing over half its gross domestic product. Sumati Luvsandendev, director of Ulan Bator-based research center Sant Maral Foundation, on Friday described the verdict as a “test for the coalition” but possibly not necessarily one that will prompt Mr. Enkhbayar’s allies to torpedo the alliance by exiting. Mongolia is ranked 120 out of 182 countries on the Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by Transparency International, tying with Bangladesh, Iran and Kazakhstan. Mongolia is one of Asia’s poorest nations but has increasingly lured foreign investors with its rich deposits of copper, gold, uranium, silver and oil. The court also ordered Enkhbayar to pay more than 54 million tugriks ($40,000) in damages.
