Former Finance Minister of Mongolia, S.Bayartsogt, held a press conference at the Mongol News Centre on Wednesday (21 March) regarding the agreement between Mongolian government and mining giant Rio Tinto. S.Bayartsogt said that ‘the Oyu Tolgoi project will continue for the next 70-100 years and it has been nine years since agreement was signed and project began. I’m happy that the Mongolian anti-corruption agency has begun an investigation on the Oyu Tolgoi agreement in cooperation with the Attorney General of Switzerland’.

Reuters agency reported that the Federal Court has ruled as legitimate the seizure of several Swiss bank accounts in a corruption probe linking a former Mongolian finance minister and mining giant Rio Tinto. The accounts were first seized by the Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland (OAG) in 2016, when it launched its probe into the 2008 transfer of some CHF9.62 million (USD10.1 million) to bank accounts owned by S.Bayartsogt, who had just become Mongolian finance minister. The seizure is part of an ongoing Swiss investigation linked to a Mongolian corruption probe into Bayartsogt’s 2009 deal giving Rio Tinto access to a large copper-gold mining project in the Gobi Desert.

In 2013, Bayartsogt resigned his position as deputy speaker of the Mongolian parliament following revelations by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists about his holding a Swiss bank account.

The Mongolian Democratic Party has ruled to expel S.Bayartsogt, from the party.