Tag Archives: Compliance

Basics of Corruption Prohibitions for Mongolian Officials



Posted by , , ,

Following on our previous discussion of Mongolia’s Anti-Corruption Law, today we will take a closer look at restrictions in the law on Mongolian officials. The law applies to:

  • Political, and administrative officials;
  • State or locally-owned legal entity’s management;The Chairperson of the National Council;
  • The General Director of public radio and television;
  • Management of NGOs performing work on behalf of the government;  and
  • Electoral candidates.

 These officials are prohibited from engaging in the following activities:

  • Exerting pressure on, intervening in or influencing civil servants in the course of duty;
  • Giving or offering to give rewards to others or to intermediaries;
  • Illegally granting or promising to grant preferences to any individual or to a legal entity;
  • Illegally limiting the lawful rights of others in the course of duty;
  • Misusing official budget or donated funds;
  • Requiring others to provide rewards in connection to the officials performance of duty;
  • Misusing or exceeding such official’s power or position;
  • Using official position to acquire property, or enjoying preferential or privileged  rights; and
  • Unjust enrichment.

Top government officials are required to to prepare and file an accurate and true declaration of income. The declarers must submit their declaration within 30 days of their election or appointment to office. An annual declaration is due on February 15 of each year during the period of public service.

Where an official is unable to “explain” assets or income in excess of 6 month’s salary, such earnings may be declared illegal unjust enrichment.

Introduction to Mongolia Anti-Corruption Law



Posted by ,

For Multinational Companies Anti-Corruption policies and legal compliance is a major priority.  The Anti-Corruption law of Mongolia was enacted by the Parliament on 6 July 2006 and has since been amended several times.

The Law regulates the activities of political and governmental officials, officers and managers of state or local government owned entities, electoral candidates, and officials of some other organizations with an operational relationship with the government.

Certain specific officials are prohibited from corrupt activities listed in the law, and are additionally required to officially declare assets and income.

In addition to receiving bribes, the law penalizes giving bribes, or acting as an intermediary.

The law also outlines and regulates the structure, role and operational principles of the Mongolia Anti-Corruption Agency.

We will follow up over the next several days with a series of blog posts with more detail on this important topic.

Purchasing a Mongolian Company: Measure Twice Cut Once



Posted by , ,

 A client approached us recently with a request to perform due diligence into a Mongolian company recently purchased by the client. The client, a foreign company, said they had some problems with their old local agent (not a lawyer) and wanted a local lawyer to verify the legal status and ownership of the company, as well as a property owned by the company.

 Our Mongolian lawyers perform due diligence on local and foreign companies on a regular basis. We proceeded to work through the due diligence checklist, confirming the company’s status with the various local government agencies, and confirming ownership of the property. We found that the current foreign shareholder of the company had formerly been a minority shareholder with a Mongolian national being the majority shareholder of the company. The foreign shareholder had purchased the Mongolian nationals shares earlier in the year. Nothing surprising here.

 When our lawyers took a look at the property held by the company we were surprised. The company held Land Possession Rights” (LPR), which by law may only be held by a Mongolian national, or a company with Mongolian ownership. As a company invested by a foreign national the client’s company was not allowed to hold LPR. By law it could only hold Land Use Rights (LUR). For both LPR and LUR the ultimate owner of the land is the state. The property rights held by LUR holder are more limited than those accorded to a holder of LPR.

 We informed the client of the situation, and speculated that the LPR were purchased by the company at an earlier time before the foreign shareholder had purchased the shares of the Mongolian national. Subsequently, the relevant government bureaus were not informed of the share transfer or the change in the status of the company.

 We advised the client to report the situation to the local government as quickly as possible. Legal penalties in such a situation are not clear, and it is typically far better to be open and honest about such compliance issues, rather than continue to cover up an illegal situation.

 All of this may have been avoided if a Mongolian Attorney would have been consulted first.