A total of eight MPs led by N.Nomtoibayar, D.Khayankhyarvaa and J.Bat-Erdene held press conference on Tuesday (11 December). The MPs said that the lawmakers who have been accused in the scandal of misusing the Small and Medium Enterprises Fund must be investigated by Mongolia’s law enforcement organs. As a political gesture, the MPs announced that they are ready to reject their own immunity and to hand themselves over to the prosecutor.

Currently, a total of 22 MPs have been stripped of their immunity and are required to submit their signatures to the Parliamentary Ethics Sub-Committee.

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 under – and continues to be overseen by – the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Light Industry.