Ulaanbaatar
Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry dismissed
Politics
Ulaanbaatar/MONTSAME/ At today’s plenary meeting of the Parliament, B.Batzorig, Member of Government and Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry, was dismissed from his position with 76 percent of votes.
Information about the huge amount of loans allegedly taken by politicians and high-level officials from Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (SMEDF) was exposed publicly. In this regard, the Minister B.Batzorig submitted his request of resignation to the Prime Minister on October 30, taking his ethical responsibility. Accordingly, the Government handed a draft resolution on ‘Dismissing the Member of Government and Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry B.Batzorig’ over to the Parliament Speaker on November 5.
During the discussion, MP D.Erdenebat claimed, “It needs to dissolve the Government that has not taken substantial actions to resolve issues around SMEDF and other social issues. Additionally, parliamentarians who received loans from the SMEDF must take ethical responsibility and apologize to Mongolian people.”
MP O.Baasankhuu pointed out that the legal responsibility should be taken on either people who gave or received the loans, and it is urgent to submit a nomination for a successor.
Prime Minister U.Khurelsukh said, “As a chairman of the Mongolian People’s Party, I have instructed MPs who received loans to pay back and make an apology to the people. Legal organizations will find whether they broke the law. Soon, I will call a MPP conference to discuss about its reforms.”
Moreover, MPs J.Batzandan and S.Byambatsogt expressed their opinion that as dilemmas in the Mongolian government and society are impossible to be resolved with this Minister’s dismissal only, it is necessary to improve the distribution of power and ensure stability of governance by means of amending the Constitution.
In the end, Minister
B.Batzorig said, “When I was a Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light
Industry, I worked for fulfilling the objective to develop the sector and make citizens
have income and jobs. Let me express my appreciation to the staff of the
ministry and sector who co-worked to fulfill the objective. I would like to
express my apology to the Prime Minister and people of food and agriculture
sector.”
Tomorrow, November 7, a
proposal on dismissing full powers of the Member of Parliament of B.Batzorig, sent
by Prosecutor’s Office, will be discussed at the plenary meeting of parliament and
meetings of corresponding standing committees.
