Head of Press and Media Department of the Office of the President, Ms. J.Tsesen handed in her resignation letter to Z.Enkhbold, Chief of Staff of the President earlier today (15 November). In the letter, J.Tsesen explained that she was resigning in connection to the Small & Medium Enterprise Fund scandal. According to one source, ’Dulguun Orgil’ LLC, which is owned by her husband D.Terbish had received soft loan from the SME Fund. This loan was for protecting livestock and was evidently provided in the correct legal way. However, J.Tsesen wanted to become a good example for members of parliament who allegedly also received loans from funds. Her resignation letter was accepted. Furthermore, Ch.Ganbat, photographer at the Press and Media Department of the Office of the President was dismissed from his job today.

Yesterday, as we reported, a demonstration took place outside the west gate of Mongolia’s State House, demanding that legal action be taken against those MPs who enabled friends and relatives to access funds.

In 2009, the Mongolian government developed a fund to support small and medium enterprises (SME’s). This provided companies with low-interest loans at 3 percent interest for up to five years and contained 2 billion Mongolian Tugrik (roughly USD 780,000 at today’s exchange rate). The fund is reported to have dispersed loans, totalling nearly 700 billion tugrik, or several hundred million U.S. dollars. The fund was created in – and continues to be overseen by – the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Light Industry.

Last week, the chief prosecutor requested the State Great Khural (parliament) to revoke the parliamentary immunity of B. Batzorig’s, who runs this ministry – and, thereby the fund itself. However, the Khural, which is dominated by the MPP refused to do so.