Page 75 - bne Magazine February 2023

bne February 2023 Eurasia I 75
Former prime minister Vlad Filat and reputed corporate raider Veaceslav Platon received prison sentences in connection to the frauds, though both have since been freed. Several other former top politicians, central bank officials and businessmen are suspected of either involvement in the frauds or of turning a blind eye while the money was siphoned off.
Years later, the authorities in Chisinau still hope to recover at least some of
the stolen money but progress is slow. After the new parliament was elected in 2021, with the reformist Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) having a majority, MPs strongly criticised both the General Prosecutor's Office and the National Anticorruption Centre for their lack of progress in recovering the money.
To give an idea of the sheer scale of the frauds, estimated at around 10% of Moldova’s GDP at the time, in 2017 local artist Stefan Esanu created an instal- lation of 10mn pieces of paper the size of dollar bills, each representing $100. The installation, with papers stacked in ten huge blocks, was intended to give the abstract notion of $1bn a concrete representation for Moldovans.
Iran's 'traitorous hands'
It was October, 2011 when Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei exclaimed on state TV: “God willing, the traitorous hands will be cut!”
The reason? Stunned Iranians were digesting “The 3,000 billion toman embezzlement scandal” in which scammers had got their greedy paws on ill-gotten gains equivalent then to just short of a billion dollars by using forged documents to obtain credit from at least seven Iranian state and private banks.
The credit, fraudulently drawn over
a four-year period, was supposedly required to purchase recently privatised state companies. When the scandal broke, the focus fell on Iranian busi- nessman Mahafarid Amir Khosravi (also known as Amir-Mansour Aria), the mas- termind of the scam. Aria was executed for his sins in 2014. It was his Aria Investment Development Company that was the primary recipient of the loans.
Police raid on home of Mongolian rail official said to discover $2mn of cash in four currencies
Anand Tumurtogoo in Ulaanbaatar
Mongolian police allegedly discovered more than $2.1mn of cash in four currencies when they raided the home of S. Batdul, deputy head of the Transport Organisation Department of national rail operator Ulaanbaatar Railways (UBTZ).
Batdul remains in police custody following the January 5 raid. On January 9, a court ordered his detention for a month.
The rail official responded to the court decision on detaining him by saying that it was spurred by what the prosecution had said about him on social media.
Batdul said: "There is a process in Mongolia where people are prosecuted online without a court decision. I believe there was no need to detain me in this case. I am involved in a minor crime. There is no need to detain me. It is very irritating and I understand the court was [under pressure to make this detention].”
The case comes with Mongolians still in a state of shock over revelations that a “coal mafia” may have stolen billions of dollars in proceeds made on thieved coal that was exported to China.
On top of confiscating a large amount of cash from Batdul’s home, police said they took away six real estate certificates worth $1.1mn. Batdul is under investigation for money laundering, tax evasion, unjustified enrichment and bribery.
On January 10, the Union of Railway Workers of Mongolia held a press conference in response to Batdul’s alleged crimes. The union alleged that the claimed crimes were the result of a collaboration and that two other UBTZ officials, who were superiors in charge of Batdul, were the main culprits. The union representatives pointed to how cargo trains move ahead on rail lines if they are classified as cargo trains under the purview of one of the officials. They also called for an examination of the role of the son
of that official. The son is in charge of inspecting cargo trains as they enter Mongolia.
Since 2021, the number of managers in UBTZ has increased by more than 20. The salaries and amenities enjoyed by these executives continue to inflate costs at a time when the country is in an economic downturn.
Mongolia's border crossing authorities and customs have a bad reputation for being the source of a great many of the country's problems, including corruption. It was reported in 2020 that UBTZ was responsible for the first COVID-19 infections that hit Mongolia. Its claimed disregard for COVID-19 prevention rules allowed the virus outbreak to spread via the national railway network, critics claim.
For years, UBTZ has escaped political scrutiny due to the fact that the company is jointly owned by the Mongolian and Russian governments, each holding a 50% stake. The company has a bad reputation in terms of failing to innovate and improve its system and trains.
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