Two former Mongolian Prime Ministers, S.Bayar and Ch.Saikhanbileg were imprisoned for a month on Thursday. The Primary Criminal Courts of Bayanzurkh, Sukhbaatar and Chingeltei districts decided to jail them for one month after concluding 48 hours of questioning by request of the Independent Authority Against Corruption (IAAC). The two men participated in the hearing through an online link. The pair have been held at the 461st detention centre since Tuesday.

The 25th and 28th prime ministers have been accused of an abuse of power while making the 2009 Oyu Tolgoi Investment Agreement and the 2015 Oyu Tolgoi Underground Mine Development and Financing Plan respectively.

Last week, the anti-corruption agency also arrested former Finance Minister S.Bayartsogt. Subsequently, the Chingeltei Criminal Court decided to jail him for one month after concluding 48 hours of questioning at the request of the IAAC.

Former Finance Minister S.Bayartsogt, then Mining Minister D.Zorigt and L.Gansukh, ex-Minister of Enviroment and Tourism signed the Oyu Tolgoi Investment Agreement with Rio Tinto in 2009 when S.Bayar was Prime Minister. Later, in 2015, a Mongolian delegation led by former Prime Minister Ch.Saikhanbileg signed the Oyu Tolgoi Underground Mine Development and Financing Plan in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. Ch.Saikhanbileg is being accused of not raising the important matter of payment in parliament.

The Oyu Tolgoi copper and gold mine is Mongolia’s most important mining development generating substantial revenue for the national economy. Since the mining development began in the Gobi desert, it has created over 11,000 jobs.