"False Media Reports of U.S. Government Grants to MP S. Oyun"

In the May 16 editions of "Unen" and "Zuunii Medee," articles asserted that Member of Parliament S. Oyun had received two grants, totaling $400,000, from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to promote an anti-corruption law.  The articles also asserted that USAID had required all anti-corruption proposals to be passed through MP Oyun.

These assertions are absolutely without any basis in fact. 

MP Oyun has not received any grant to promote an anti-corruption law.

In 2005, USAID conducted an open tender process for an anti-corruption project, and received submissions directly from organizations.  USAID awarded the grant to an international NGO.  The outline of the new NGO program, as well as the USAID-funded study on corruption in 2005, are both publicly available.  The 2005 study and NGO grant are the first time USAID has disbursed money to foster efforts to combat corruption.

We regret that these publications did not contact the U.S. Embassy for comment prior to printing the articles. 

We urge that the publications print corrections.