The Independent Authority against Anti-Corruption (IAAC) has reported that Mongolia will extradite former judge S.Tumurbat who fled to the USA last year.

On 26 June, President Kh.Battulga issued a decree suspending the judicial powers of 17 judges suspected of corruption. That night, S.Tumurbat escaped to Russia through the Altanbulag Border Crossing, from where he travelled on to the USA, said the IAAC. Earlier, S.Tumurbat’s father had made a getaway through China.

According to the IAAC, former judge S.Tumurbat, one of the 17 convicted, had managed to escape with his family to the United States where he applied for asylum. He was detained by US border officers because he was carrying a very substantial sum in US dollars.

Mongolia currently has no extradition treaty with the United States; however, it is possible to transfer a fugitive through a third country. Mongolia has joined the Inter-American Convention on Extradition.

Previously, S.Tumurbat’s mother, an ‘honoured judge of Mongolia, L.Byambaa hanged herself in detention centre while in custody while she was under investigation of a corruption case connected with the Salkhit silver mine.