UNCTAD-Mongolia

chapter 3
The IAAC has been in existence since 1997, and it has
started having tangible effects on the level of corruption
in Mongolia. A senior official in the agency described
it as being systemic among Government officials and
part of their mentality (chapter II). The assessment of
anticorruption agencies elsewhere in the world is not
encouraging: agencies may be obligated to politicians
and so do not investigate corrupt officials; they may
lack the power to prosecute; quality and number of
investigative staff may be inadequate; and the agencies
face opposition from a massive wall of corrupt practices
(Pope and Vohl, 2000). The guidelines for successful
operation of anticorruption agencies, however, are quite
clear, with the requirements described in box III.2. The
preconditions concern institutional effectiveness and
the rule of law, requiring therefore public sector reform.
Box III.2. Guidelines for successful operation of anticorruption agencies
1. Political will and total support from the national political leadership, including the President.
2. Independence to investigate at the highest levels of Government.
3. A powerful agency director with a high level of integrity and strong support from the President, including
guarantees against intimidation.
4. Adequate numbers of well-trained staff with appropriate specialized skills.
5. Powers of coercion to ensure successful investigation and prosecution; and close links with public
prosecutors to facilitate convictions.
6. Ensuring accountability in terms of legal standards, judicial review, public complaints and oversight.
7. Measuring performance, using indicators such as: per cent of investigated cases brought to judgement;
per cent of complaints that result in greater transparency; specific institutional changes in response to
complaints that result in greater transparency; per cent of requests for information that are granted;
positive public survey results on agency performance; positive opinion poll results on the performance of
the Anticorruption Agency.
8. Fundamentally public sector reform is critical to reduce the underlying drivers of corruption, including
institutions that are a legacy of the past; the ineffective rule of law; effective immunity from prosecution for
politicians and senior public officials; the lack of well-trained professionals; and low public sector salaries.
Source: USAID (2006); Heilbrunn (2004)
It is apparent that many of these guidelines are not fully
applied in the Mongolian situation. For example, the
IAAC staff requires training and specialized skills and
the penalties imposed for violation of anti-corruption
legislation are low (chapter II). The public sector reform
programme as discussed at the beginning of this section
will inevitably take time to implement, since it requires
not simply legislation but a change of mindset.
Tackling corruption is, however, urgent as the mineral
revenue flows accelerate and provide enhanced rent
seeking opportunities; and as a means of reassuring
foreign investors. Besides improving the implementation
of existing anti-corruption and transparency laws, five
interim measures are proposed below:
1. Promoting E-government initiatives to improve
transparency and accountability. These are
powerful tools in reducing corruption in
government-business relations. In this regard,
Mongolia should: a) implement the electronic
signature law; b) complete the harmonization of
Government databases including the land, tax and
company database. Aside from its bureaucracy
reduction effects, the centralized database should
improve transparency by providing the possibility
for individuals and companies to easily access
the information needed to conduct due diligence
analysis, currently very difficult to access; and c)
consider implementing UNCTAD’s E-regulations
programme to simplify rules and procedures and
eliminate unnecessary steps;
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