Parliament has recently passed a bill to amend the Mongolia Criminal Code. The Amendments will create new liabilities for adviser’s of corporate CEOs, whose actions result in offenses such as money laundering, terrorism, bribery, environmental abuse, actions that threaten the nation’s economic security, or the abuse of state property.
Under previous law, only the CEO his or herself could be held liable in such cases. The amendments will hold those around the CEO, who advised or pressured a certain course of action to also take responsibility.
These changes will apply not only to private corporations, but also to state owned enterprises. It is interesting to note that while the Criminal Code previously contained over 80 items imposing certain legal liabilities on legal entities such as companies, the amended Code now has less than 30.
This is in general expected to make it easier to establish and operate a new company in Mongolia. The intention of the law appears to be to make it easier for companies to do business by providing more free dome of operation, while at the same time increasing liability for offenses at the top levels.