Certain members of Parliament are planning a proposal for a new Law on Offshore Accounts. This comes in the wake of disclosures in the Panama Papers of names and offshore account details of several Mongolian nationals, including high-level government officials.
Following those revelations, the Standing Committee of Parliament initiated a formal request to the IAAC (Independent Authority Against Corruption), a Mongolian agency tasked with identification and elimination of corruption. The Standing Committee assigned the agency to perform a thorough review to determine of the accuracy of the Panama Papers information, and to verify information reported within the income declarations of senior pubic officials which were revealed to maintain offshore bank accounts.
The next step will be a new Law on Offshore Accounts which as envisioned would demand politicians and government officials to accurately and self-report their foreign bank account and real estate holdings in addition to those belonging to family members. Officials would also be required to identify and explain the sources of their income.
As the law is targeting Mongolian governmental officials, impact on foreign companies and foreign citizens in Mongolia should be minimal. In any case, the additional transparency among government officials will be a welcome and important step toward reducing corruption.