Ulan Bator: A court in Mongolia has jailed former president Nambar Enkhbayar for four years after finding him guilty of corruption charges that he has called politically motivated.
Enkhbayar, 54, served as prime minister and then president for almost a decade until losing office in 2009. He was arrested in April in a dawn raid broadcast live on national television.
On Thursday, a Mongolian court found him guilty of misappropriating gifts intended for a monastery, along with other corruption charges, in a hearing broadcast on national television.
The court originally sentenced him to seven years, but commuted three, citing an amnesty law.
Enkhbayar, who was barred from running in Mongolia’s June parliamentary elections, called the charges “groundless”.
“I served the posts of president, prime minister and speaker of parliament. I never thought I would be accused groundlessly,” Enkhbayar said in his testimony. He has said he will appeal the verdict.
Mongolia is ranked 120 out of 182 countries on the Corruption Perceptions Index compiled by the watchdog group Transparency International, tying with Bangladesh, Iran and Kazakhstan.
It is one of Asia’s poorest nations but has increasingly lured foreign investors with its rich deposits of copper, gold, uranium, silver and oil. (AFP)
