Samsung: Court rejects Lee Jae-yong arrest warrant request www.bbc.com

A court in Seoul has denied an arrest warrant request for Samsung heir Lee Jae-yong, after prosecutors accused him of accounting fraud and stock manipulation.

The ruling provides at least temporary relief for the de facto head of the South Korean conglomerate.

But Mr Lee isn't completely in the clear yet as prosecutors said they will continue with their investigation.

They can still return with new evidence and seek another arrest warrant.

Last week state prosecutors asked the court to issue an arrest warrant against Mr Lee related to their probe into accounting fraud and the controversial merger of two Samsung businesses, Samsung C&T and Cheil Industries, in 2015.

Prosecutors said the deal helped his plan to take greater control of the group.

On Friday Samsung denied the allegation of stock-manipulation against Mr Lee, saying it was "beyond common sense" to claim he was involved in the decision-making.

In another statement over the weekend, the group said the lengthy probe is weighing on management, which is in "crisis" at a time when the coronavirus pandemic and US-China trade war are adding to uncertainty.

Three top executives, including a vice president, have already been given prison sentences for hiding or destroying evidence in the probe.

Who is Lee Jae-yong?
The 51-year-old, also known as Jay Y Lee, is the son of Lee Kun-hee, chairman of Samsung Group, South Korea's largest conglomerate. He is also the grandson of Samsung founder Lee Byung-chul.

With a degree from South Korea's top university and an MBA from one of Japan's most prestigious universities, he has been groomed to take over the family firm.

He became a Samsung president in 2009 and in 2013 was made vice-chairman of Samsung Electronics, the division which makes devices including smartphones, televisions, cameras and hard drives.

Since Mr Lee's father suffered a heart attack in 2014, he has been considered the de facto boss of the entire Samsung group of businesses.

According to Forbes magazine, the divorced father-of-two has a net worth of around $6.6bn (£5.2bn).

What is the case about?
In February 2017, Lee Jae-yong was arrested and then charged over his alleged role in a political and corporate scandal linked to South Korea's then president, Park Geun-hye.

Charges against Mr Lee included bribery, embezzlement, hiding assets overseas and perjury.

Samsung was accused of paying 43bn won ($35.7m; £28.1m) to two non-profit foundations operated by Choi Soon-sil, a friend of Ms Park, in exchange for political support.

More specifically, the favours were alleged to include backing for a controversial Samsung merger which paved the way for Mr Lee to become the head of the conglomerate, a deal that needed support from South Korea's government-run national pension fund.

Mr Lee denied the charges. He admitted making donations but said Samsung did not want anything in return.

In August 2017 a court convicted him of the charges and sent him to prison for five years.

Six months later that sentence was halved, and the Seoul High Court decided to suspend the jail term, meaning he was free to go.

Batch of Belarusian firefighting vehicles shipped to Mongolia www.eng.belta.by

MINSK, 8 June (BelTA) – The Belarusian automobile engineering company MAZ and the Borisov-based firefighting equipment manufacturer Pozhsnab have shipped the first batch of firefighting, rescue, and emergency response vehicles to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) of Mongolia, the MAZ press service told BelTA.

Webinar: Upcoming Procurements Opportunities for the Mongolia Compact Water Supply Project www.mcc.gov

The United States of America, acting through the Millennium Challenge Corporation, and the Government of Mongolia have entered into a Millennium Challenge Compact for Millennium Challenge Account assistance in the amount of $350 million USD to help facilitate poverty reduction through economic growth in Mongolia (the “Compact”). The Compact will assist the Government of Mongolia in alleviating an imminent water shortage and meeting the projected demand for water in the capital city of Ulaanbaatar for residential consumers and commercial and industrial users.

262 Mongolian nationals return from Australia and the Philippines www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. A charter flight, bringing Mongolian nationals from Australia and the Philippines, has landed today, June 8, at Chinggis Khan International Airport in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.

Mongolia to play Japan for Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup qualifier www.news.mn

The Asian Football Confederation (AFC), in consultation with FIFA, has announced the proposed dates for the remaining matches of Round 2 in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 and AFC Asian Cup China 2023 Asian Qualifiers which have been postponed due to the global spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Silk Road on steel wheels: China launches new cargo train route to Europe www.rt.com

The first freight train left Hefei, the capital of China’s Anhui Province, on Saturday for Tiburg in the Netherlands loaded with 82 containers. The route is part China’s ambitious One Belt One Road project.
Marking the launch of a new rail cargo service between the two cities, the train will travel for around 15 days before arriving at its destination, Xinhua news agency reported.

Mongolia reports no new COVID-19 case www.xinhuanet.com

June 7 (Xinhua) -- A total of 193 COVID-19 cases has so far been reported in Mongolia with no case recorded over the last 24 hours, the National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said on Sunday.

Mongolia to airlift around 250 its citizens from Australia www.akipress.com

The special flight will arrive in Ulaanbaatar from Sydney, Australia, on June 8, the operative team of the state emergency commission announced.

Light industry training centers established with EU funding www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ With financing of the European Union, “Industry of the Future” blended training center and “Textile - Knitwear Finishing Incubator Center” opened yesterday, on June 3. The centers are established within “Support to Employment Creation in Mongolia (SECiM 2) Project” jointly running by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry of Mongolia (MOFALI).

With the aims of empowering human resources of light industry sector, introducing international practices and increasing value of agricultural products, the training centers are relying on Armono, Research, Testing, Production and Business Corporation of Light Industry and Research and Development Institute of Light Industry.

At the opening ceremony of the centers, Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry Ch.Ulaan emphasized the significance of state policy and training of skilled personnel for development of agriculture and light industry, which are pillar sectors of economy of Mongolia, and raise value of labor of herders and manufacturers.

Minister Ch.Ulaan continued, “Even though the food, agriculture and light industry sector, which makes up 55 percent of total employees of Mongolia and covers over 70 percent of the territory, especially leather and cashmere sector have abundant potential, we have been unable to fully use it. Raising value of hard labor of herders is one of the pressing issues of the sector. Mongolia puts 20 million livestock into economic circulation a year. It means 20 million pieces of skin and leather, 20 thousand tons of wool and around 10 thousand tons of cashmere come from it and we have the potential for processing these precious raw materials, producing final products and supplying to the market. Therefore, establishing Scientific Research and Training Center of Light Industry at the ministry has significant importance to train its personnel and increase manufacturing of science and innovation-based products.”

Ambassador of the European Union to Mongolia Traian Laurentiu said that in March 2018, together with UNIDO we launched the EU funded SECiM Project. It has achieved substantial results such as transferring international technology and knowledge complementing national expertise, improving quality of raw materials and products. I would like to emphasize the opening of the Industry of Future blended training center as one of the examples of institutionalizing e-learning programs, which have been developed and introduced by UNIDO for building capacity of the sector. Just last week, we signed with the Minister of Finance, the Financing Agreement for the Direct Budget Support Programme. The EU granted Mongolia over 50 million euros to support the employment. 43 million euros will be direct transfer to state budget and 7.8 million euros will be for a technical assistance project. The Secim 2 UNIDO and FAO projects will continue its good lessons learnt in this four year. Technical Assistance project to be delivered together by the United Nations agencies. The objective of this technical assistance is to continue our support to the Mongolian SMEs and businesses in creating more sustainable jobs by focusing on youth employment and TVET capacity building for youth.

Iron ore price rises to USD 68.4 per ton www.zgm.mn

Mongolia exported crude oil worth USD 24.8 million and imported USD 273 million of petroleum products in the first five months of 2020, which means the oil industry deficit reached USD 248 million. Fuel import contracted by 7 percent to 206,000 tons compared to the same period of the previous year. It plummetted by 20 percent to USD 101.8 million in price. Diesel fuel import decreased by 20 percent to 335,300 tons from a year ago, financially dwindled by 34 percent to USD 171 million. Domestic crude oil consumptions have been lowered predom-inantly due to the pandemic. Specifically, oil consumption has been deteriorated as a result of the suspension of export and obstacles in the mining industry, according to the fuel importers. Rosneft Oil Company decreased its border price of oil products supplied to Mongolia. On this subject, the retail price of AI-92 gasoline has been reduced by MNT 475 per liter, AI-80 by MNT 380, AI-95 by MNT 440, and diesel fuel by MNT 590 since March. PetroChina Daqing Tamsag LLC exports oil through the Bayankhoshuu border checkpoint, while Donshin Oil LLC exports by railway. Railway export has not been disrupted in the last few months. However, exports from the Bayankhoshuu border resumed after a period of disruption. Currently, there is no hindrance to exports, said the Mineral Resources and Petroleum Authority of Mongolia (MRPAM)