On Monday’s open debate on corruption in the private
sector was marked by a series of complaints from participating businessmen.

The owner of a sewing company said, “I have had to pay
bribes, small and big, for all the 17 years I have had my business. Money has
to be paid before I get any order and the list of those demanding money is getting
longer. Now it has become such that I get a contract to supply students’
uniforms only after paying a bribe to the director, other officials and even to
teachers. Everybody has to be kept satisfied. Why is there nobody from the
Ministry of Education, Culture and Science here? I don’t think there is a
single secondary school and kindergarten where donations do not have to be paid
to get any work. In other sectors also, officials in state organizations demand
donation from private businessmen from the khoroo when there is some
anniversary or celebration. Much of the money thus collected goes into private
pockets. The disease is spreading daily.”

Another private entrepreneur said, “The law on corruption
says it is an offense to both take and give a bribe. My experience is that
private enterprises cannot take a step if they don’t give bribes to corrupt
officials everywhere. Nothing will move if money is not paid. The whole system
of tenders is full of holes.”

A company director said, “There is no law to protect
intellectual property rights in Mongolia. A company develops some software,
only to find some worker leaving with it and joining another company, or even
selling it elsewhere while staying on at his job. We train our employees but
when they achieve skills, other companies promise them high salaries to leave
us.”

Everybody in Mongolia knows about the rampant corruption here,
particularly in state organizations. Envelopes containing money must change
hands before a child can get into a school or kindergarten, let alone in trade
deals. It is hard consolation that the spread of corruption is a global phenomenon. 

The Ant–Corruption Authority (ACA) recently found in a
survey of private enterprises that 81.2% of the respondents felt the country
was full of corruption. Some 27% had experience of corruption in state
organizations, 32.4% in capital and aimag administrative organizations, and 40.7%
in the private sector. The ACA feels that corruption in the private sector has gone
up in the last two years. This is against consumers’ interests.