Mongolian spy chief fights extradition in UK court

WASHINGTON POST

By JILL LAWLESS

The Associated Press
Wednesday, January 5, 2011; 1:24 PM

LONDON -- A lawyer for a Mongolian spymaster who was clapped into handcuffs as his plane landed in London said Wednesday that the case should be a warning to other countries to be careful if they plan to send senior officials to Britain.

Bat Khurts, a chief at Mongolia's National Security Council, says he thought he was arriving to attend high-level security talks when he was detained on a European arrest warrant as his Aeroflot plane landed at Heathrow Airport in September. Khurts, 41, is wanted in Germany for questioning over the kidnapping of a Mongolian murder suspect there in 2003.
Lawyer Alun Jones told a court hearing that Khurts' arrest violated his diplomatic immunity as a senior government official.
Jones also said British officials "colluded ... to deceive him" by granting Khurts a visa when they knew there was an arrest warrant out for him.
"The U.K. authorities granted him a visa for the sole purpose of securing his arrest on arrival," Jones said.
He said that if Khurts was not released, "then other countries better look out when they're planning to send senior civil servants to this country."
"The Foreign Office might be planning, behind their backs, to arrest them," Jones said.
Lawyers for the British and German governments will present their case at a later hearing.
Khurts is wanted over the kidnapping of a Mongolian man suspected of murdering a government official 13 years go. The suspect, Damiran Enkhbat, was abducted in France in 2003, driven to Germany and flown back to Mongolia, where he was imprisoned and where human rights groups say he was tortured. He later died of liver disease.
Enkhbat had been suspected in the still unsolved murder of Sanjaasuren Zorig, a prominent politician and government minister stabbed to death in Ulan Bator in 1998.
Britain says it had to arrest Khurts because Germany had issued a warrant.
The spy chief, who has been held in prison since his arrest, is fighting extradition. He appeared in court in a gray sweat shirt and blue trousers, answering questions and following proceedings through a Russian interpreter.
His lawyers said they would apply for bail at a hearing on Jan. 12. The extradition case will resume on Feb. 3.

Lawyer: Mongolian chief had immunity from arrest

(UKPA) – 16 hours ago

A Mongolian spy chief allegedly lured to the UK so he could be arrested at London's Heathrow Airport should not have been detained because he is covered by diplomatic immunity, a court has heard.

Bat Khurts, the head of the executive office of Mongolia's National Security Council, was on official government business which protected him from arrest, his lawyer Alun Jones told magistrates.

Khurts legal team claim the 41-year-old was duped into coming to the UK so he could be arrested and jailed under a European Arrest Warrant and extradited to Germany at the behest of the German government.

He appeared at City of Westminster magistrates court in London where he is fighting extradition.

Mr Jones said the spy chief was told he was coming to the UK for high-level Government talks on a new era of intelligence cooperation relating to Muslim fundamentalism. But instead, as soon as his Aeroflot flight touched down at Heathrow airport last September, he was handcuffed and arrested.

Mr Jones said Khurts was a senior civil servant representing his government and was therefore covered under the Special Missions Convention which granted him immunity from detention and arrest.

He told the court: "The defendant was plainly on a special mission. He has immunities and should not have been arrested and should not be in custody. They know he's a very senior civil servant, know he's on government business to further diplomatic relations that constitute a special mission."

Mr Khurts is fighting extradition to Germany over claims he was involved in the kidnap, false imprisonment and return of a Mongolian national suspected of murdering a government official.

It is alleged Khurts was involved in the kidnap of Enkhbat Damiran from France, driving him to Berlin, drugging him and flying him back to Mongolia.

The hearing was adjourned until February 3 at the same court. Khurts was remanded in custody until a bail hearing on January 12.

Copyright © 2011 The Press Association. All rights reserved.

Mongolian spy 'lured to UK to be arrested'

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER

By Wesley Johnson

Wednesday, 5 January 2011
A senior member of the Mongolian security services was lured to Britain so he could be arrested and jailed under a European Arrest Warrant, his lawyer said yesterday.
Bat Khurts, the head of the executive office of Mongolia's National Security Council, thought he was coming to the UK for talks on Muslim fundamentalism. But his solicitor said the Foreign Office was "duplicitously luring Mr Khurts to his arrest and imprisonment at the behest of the German government".
The 41-year-old was arrested at Heathrow in September and will appear before City of Westminster magistrates today to fight extradition to Germany. He is accused of involvement in the kidnap of a Mongolian national in France, who was allegedly drugged and returned to Mongolia from Berlin.

Foreign Office 'lured Mongolian official to UK'

Mr Batbold cancelled a trip to the UK in November - the reason is disputed A Mongolian security services official is due in court in the UK to fight extradition to Germany amid claims he was lured to Britain to be arrested.
Bat Khurts' lawyer says the UK government told him he was coming for talks but acted "duplicitously" at the behest of the German government.
Mr Khurts, 41, was allegedly involved in the kidnap and false imprisonment of a Mongolian national in 2003.
The UK Foreign Office said the arrest was in no way a political statement.
Mr Khurts, the head of the executive office of Mongolia's National Security Council, was arrested at London's Heathrow Airport in September and is being held at Wandsworth prison in south west London.
Continue reading the main story.

Foreign Office statement

He will appear before City of Westminster magistrates on Wednesday.
His solicitor, Duncan MacDonald of law firm JD Spicer, said his client had no idea a European Arrest Warrant existed.
He said Mr Khurts had thought he had been invited to the UK for official government talks on intelligence co-operation relating to Muslim fundamentalism.
The UK's national security advisor Sir Peter Ricketts and his strategy and counter-terrorism director William Nye were among those he thought he was meeting.
There had been "prolonged correspondence" prior to the trip, Mr MacDonald added.
"It seems the Foreign Office was duplicitously luring Mr Khurts to his arrest and imprisonment at the behest of the German government," he said.
"This is no way to treat any individual, let alone a senior official of an allied nation."

'Kidnapped and drugged'

The warrant for Mr Khurts' arrest relates to the kidnap, false imprisonment and repatriation of Mongolian national Enkhbat Damiran, who has since died.
Mr Damiran was wanted in connection with the murder of Mongolian minister Zorig Sanjasuuren.
It is alleged that Mr Khurts helped kidnap Mr Damiran in France before driving him to Berlin in Germany, drugging him and flying him back to Mongolia.
Mr MacDonald says Mongolian prime minister Sukhbaataryn Batbold cancelled a trip to the UK in November as a result of Mr Khurts' arrest - and has no plans to reinstate it.
But the UK Foreign Office said it was postponed because of parliamentary business in Mongolia, and officials were looking to reschedule it.
A spokesman said: "Mr Bat Khurts was arrested under the European Arrest Warrant issued by the German judicial authorities.
"The arrest in no way amounts to a diplomatic or political statement by the British government.
"Judicial authorities, which are wholly independent of the government, are carrying out their independent legal function in accordance with the law.
"His extradition is now before the courts and it would be inappropriate for us to pass further comment at this stage."

Source: BBC News
4 January 2011 Last updated at 19:17 GMT

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Why Mongolia and Sri Lanka are top of the stock markets

One exchange is the world's smallest, the other is in a country recovering from war, but they're both thriving

By James Moore

Tuesday, 28 December 201ZE

• • NORMAL
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If you had invested in a tracker fund at the start of the year, which of the world's stock markets would have done the most for your pound? China, or somewhere nearby? How about one of the resource-rich economies of Latin America, growing fat on the commodities boom? The answer is none of the above (and you would have lost money in China, where the rather overheated stock market went into a sharp reverse). No, the winner of this year's stock-market crown is the Mongolian Stock Exchange in Ulan Bator, although resources are largely the reason for its victory. Opened in 1991, the world's smallest stock exchange by market capitalisation has gained a stunning 187 per cent so far this year (in sterling terms), and a still impressive 136 per cent when measured in the local currency, the tugrik.

However, actually investing a pound there is something of a challenge. According to data from Bloomberg, this year's best-performing stock market, to which you could more easily gain some exposure, has been that of Sri Lanka. Had you invested a pound in the Colombo market at the start of the year, your money would have turned into £2.07 at the close of last week. Investors in the local currency, the Sri Lankan rupee, saw their money increase by 92.3 per cent.

How has the island nation pulled it off? Well, an end to years of strife between the country's government and the independence-seeking Tamils in the north and east has helped. In May 2009 government forces crushed separatist rebels, bringing to a close four decades of ethnic tensions that the United Nations says may have cost up to 100,000 lives.

Although the aftermath of the war was messy, and the island still has many issues to deal with, the stock exchange in Colombo immediately benefited, rising 128 per cent in 2009 as investors poured in. And this year it put in a repeat performance. A booming IT sector – the London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a prominent investor, having bought the Sri Lankan technology company MilleniumIT in September last year – and its proximity to booming South-east Asian economies such as India and China, have provided a lot of the impetus, as have government privatisations and a rash of other flotations.

"We have between 60 and 75 initial public offerings lined up for next year. That includes five state entities and 35 finance companies," said Malik Cader, director-general of the Sri Lankan Securities and Exchange Commission, earlier this month. Xavier Rolet, the chief executive of the LSE, also talks enthusiastically about what he has bought. War is supposed to be good for business. Peace is much better, but a bit of democracy wouldn't go amiss; just think how high the country could fly then.

Other than Sri Lanka, the resource-rich economies of Latin America came heavily into play among this year's top-performing markets. Peru and Chile were stars, Argentina, one of the continent's two heavyweights alongside Brazil, also did well, as did Colombia. That has to be put in context: there is an element of bounce-back after the dark years of the recession. All the same, putting a pound into tracking these markets at the start of the year would have produced a more-than-healthy return.

Bill Dinning, head of strategy at Aegon Asset Management, says: "These markets are very much resource plays. We've seen a boom in the prices of industrial metals, and precious metals have also done very well. And there is some support for it still. The outlook for economic growth in 2011 has improved, in the US, in Germany and even here.

"I think we are still playing that game and that will sustain parts of the commodity complex that fuels the markets of these countries. The one thing to watch for is whether the energy complex joins in the bull market. Gasoline is up 10 per cent this year and crude oil has averaged the second-highest price since 2008. That would actually be a worry and a break on growth."

Two other stellar performers, the Thai and Indonesian stock markets, both play into the Asian economic boom, which has continued despite the weakness of Europe and the US, driven by China.

Thailand has not been without its challenges, not least the continuing political instability which led to protests earlier this year. But concerns that this could derail the economy's recovery have proved unfounded. Consumer spending has been on the rise, export growth is strong, and one of the factors that could hamper this – inflation – has remained relatively low.

Elections are expected to be held towards the end of next year, and a repeat of the recent unrest cannot be ruled out, but fund managers say Thailand's equity markets remain cheap and should continue to perform strongly throughout 2011. A word to the wise: peace is good for business. Just look at Sri Lanka.

Robert Quinn, the chief European equity strategist at S&P Equity Research, explains the attraction of the emerging markets, whose stock exchanges have done so well. He said: "We've seen a real acceleration of the global industrial cycle in the latter parts of this year. A lot of money has come out of equities in developed countries and towards emerging markets, which offer a better risk-return profile than other assets at the moment."

One of the important factors to consider when looking at markets is currency – if you look at how markets performed in terms of local currency, as opposed to how they would have performed if you had invested a pound, you get different results. The euro-denominated market in Estonia, for example, has performed exceptionally strongly: it is up 72 per cent in local currency terms. However, in sterling, it has produced a slightly less impressive 65 per cent rise. This is because of the euro's weakness against the pound (and just about every other currency). Elsewhere, sterling's weakness helps inflate returns.

Mr Quinn says: "As for the Baltic states such as Lithuania and Estonia, they took a lot of the adjustment in wages and public spending early, when compared to their counterparts in some of the other weaker Eurozone states on the periphery. Of course, Ireland took an early hit, too. The problem there was that it didn't sort out its banks."

Jerome Booth, head of research and co-founder of fund manager Ashmore Investment Management, says of the markets: "Emerging markets generally should be trading at a premium to the developed world. Inflation, not deflationary pressures, is the main risk, but it is controllable. You have very strongly growing economies without the downside risk of the developed world.

"South-south trade and investment has taken off," Mr Booth continues. "Central banks have started to buy each other's reserves so they are weaning themselves off the old system. There is vibrant growth in investing and demand. This is where you find the bulk of land, people, energy consumption and production. Not to invest in these places is bizarre, particularly when the big risks are at home."


THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER

Mongolia leader here for loan, ties

By ALEX MARTIN

Staff writer

Japan and Mongolia can benefit by strengthening their strategic partnership and combining Japan's advanced technology with Mongolia's abundant natural resources, Mongolian President Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj said Friday in Tokyo.

Elbegdorj, a former two-time prime minister, was visiting Japan to sign a ¥500 million loan from the government to develop his nation's small and midsize businesses and for measures against Mongolia's deteriorating environment.

"The two nations can cooperate long-term in all fields," Elbegdorj said during a news conference at the Japan National Press Club.

Tokyo aims to promote stronger ties with Mongolia to secure new sources of rare earth minerals and break Japan's reliance on China for the vital elements.

"I understand Japan's strong interest toward rare earths. We would like to jointly develop the resources," he said.

Elbegdorj acknowledged that Mongolia's rapid transformation in the last two decades into an open market economy has taken a toll on the environment, but said his country has been working on countermeasures and ways to create renewable energy sources.

Regarding the recent territorial spat between Japan and China over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, Elbegdorj said he hopes the issue can be solved peacefully.

THE JAPAN TIMES

TOKYO to use ODA to promote Japan's satellite industry

TOKYO to use ODA to promote Japan's satellite industry

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The government has decided to provide funding for developing countries' space satellite projects under its official development assistance, government sources said Friday.

The first such aid funds are expected to be offered to Vietnam to help Japanese companies secure business related to a planned satellite launch by the Southeast Asian country.

The government had previously opposed disbursing ODA funds for satellite projects on the grounds that the ODA program should primarily serve the goal of eradicating poverty.

But Tokyo has changed its mind after seeing European countries successfully use ODA funding to benefit their aerospace industries. Japan now plans to extend low-interest, yen-denominated loans to emerging economies to support Japanese firms in the race to secure satellite-related deals abroad, they said.

Since Seiji Maehara became foreign minister last year, the ministry has shifted its position on funding foreign satellite projects with aid funds as Maehara believes the government should help to promote Japanese infrastructure exports.

Vietnam earlier asked Japan for loans to carry out its 30 billion yen project to build a space center and launch a weather satellite.

Among Japanese companies, NEC Corp. and Mitsubishi Electric Corp. manufacture satellites.

French and Belgian firms have already been awarded contracts in connection with the Vietnamese space program, apparently aided by their respective countries' ODA.

Japanese companies are afraid of falling behind Western competitors and only one Japanese satellite, with key components made by Japanese firms, has been delivered to a foreign buyer.

Japan is aiming to export five to 10 satellites in five years' time.

The government earmarked funding for the development of advanced small satellites in its draft budget for the year from April. It will also send a delegation of government and corporate officials to Mongolia and Cambodia in February in the hope of winning satellite-related business.

(Mainichi Japan) January 1, 2011

THE MAINICHI DAILY NEWS