The helicopter at the centre of the scandal which led to the resignation of Mongolia’s then Prime Minister, Luvsannamsrain Oyun-Erdene, was owned and operated by a company linked to the $1.1 billion Lex Oil fraud.
In May 2025, the fiancée of Oyun-Erdene’s son, Temuulen, posted video and photographs of a helicopter arrival and a fireworks marriage proposal on her Instagram. The images led to national protests, and ultimately the loss of a no-confidence vote and resignation from Oyun-Erdene.1
The helicopter in the images which sparked the protests is registered to Alpha Aurora Aviation, a charter helicopter operator founded by VS Oil, one of the fuel-trading vehicles used by the scheme’s central figure, Jononbayar Erdenesuren, and his family.2
Alpha Aurora has been marketed as Mongolia’s first commercial helicopter operator.3 It manages a fleet of seven Airbus helicopters for tourism, corporate and VIP travel from a private heliport in Ulaanbaatar.4 It was founded by VS Oil in 2023.5 Jononbayar Erdenesuren himself was reported, in a now-archived article, to frequently travel to a tourist camp in Mongolia on flights handled by the charter company.6
VS Oil sits alongside Lex Oil in the family-controlled fuel network central to the scandal.7 It was founded by Dashnyam Chinbat, husband of Jononbayar’s aunt Dorjgochoo Erdenetuul,8 who owned Lex Oil until it passed to Chinbat, its current sole beneficial owner.9 VS Oil is itself a corporate shareholder of Lex Oil.10
Alpha Aurora’s beneficial owner, and one-time CEO,11 Bataa “Anya” Anarchuluu, sits inside the same network.12 She was previously a director of VS Oil and a co-shareholder, alongside Lex Oil itself, in another network vehicle, Tod Petroleum.13 She co-owns or directs several companies with Jononbayar’s mother, Dorjgochoo Erdenesuren.14 Alpha Aurora is not the only aviation venture tying Anya to the family: she was also the director of Mongolian Airways Aviation, a company owned by Jononbayar’s aunt, Erdenetuul.15
Alpha Aurora Aviation also links the scheme to foreign entities beyond Mongolia. Its CEO and former COO,16 the British aviation consultant David Edwards, runs a consultancy that lists both Alpha Aurora and APEXPP Commodities as clients.17 APEXPP’s ultimate beneficial owner is Banzragch Batdavaa,18 a former senior officer and executive director of Lex Oil,19 who co-owns a further business with Jononbayar’s mother.20 Edwards is executive director of Cygnus Global, a Singapore-registered company that markets jet fuel and aviation services for Mongolia.21 On 30 July 2026 Cygnus announced it would fold Edwards Aviation Consultants and Alpha Aurora into a new “Cygnus Global – Aviation” division, although legal ownership of the company has not changed at the time of writing.22
Mongolia’s Anti-Corruption Agency found that the flight taken by Temuulen on the Alpha Aurora helicopter fell under a charter contract signed between Hero Entertainment and Alpha Aurora for film location scouting.23 Hero Entertainment, whose credits include the international stage production ’The Mongol Khan’,24 is 50% owned by Temuulen’s father, the then Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene.25
1 ‘Mongolia PM resigns after son’s luxury holiday stirs public fury’, BBC News, 3 June 2025: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5yg8dxv5w9o; TIME, ‘Why Mongolia’s Prime Minister Oyun-Erdene Resigned’, 3 June 2025: https://time.com/7290686/mongolia-prime-minister-oyun-erdene-luvsannamsrain-resigns-protests-corruption-son/
2 The helicopter (JU-6777) shown in the girlfriend’s Instagram posts. Screenshots of the original posts are available to view at: https://ikon.mn/n/3elf. JU-6777 is confirmed as an Alpha Aurora aircraft: https://www.graph.mn/news/2817. Alpha Aurora Aviation was founded on 16 June 2023 by VS Oil: https://opendatalab.mn/search/8376344. VS Oil (Ви Эс Ойл, reg. 6225578)is a corporate shareholder of Lex Oil https://opendatalab.mn/search/5623979, and is named as a scheme vehicle in Mongolian investigative media https://ergelt.mn/news/22/single/40012.
3 Described as “Mongolia’s first helicopter operator” in Heliops article: https://www.heliopsmag.com/heliops/articles/breaking-new-ground-mongolias-first-commercial-helicopter-operator/
4 Alpha Aurora Aviation’s website: https://alpha-avia.com/, and an interview with David Edwards: https://www.heliopsmag.com/heliops/articles/breaking-new-ground-mongolias-first-commercial-helicopter-operator/
5 The founding shareholder was VS Oil, which registered as shareholder on 20 June 2023: www.opendatalab.mn/search/8376344
6 Jononbayar’s use of Alpha Aurora helicopters to reach his camp in Uvs province was reported in a now removed article from 2024.: https://web.archive.org/web/20241113103634/https://reelnews.mn/a/1225
7 Both companies listed as part of the scheme: https://ergelt.mn/news/22/single/40012.
8 Reporting by Reuters confirming the family relationship: https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/aunt-trafiguras-mongolia-boss-ran-main-partner-firm-2025-03-25/
9 Erdenetuul owned Lex Oil until 2023. Lex Oil full corporate record: https://opendatalab.mn/search/5623979.
10 Ownership history of VS Oil: https://opendatalab.mn/search/6225578 and https://opendatalab.mn/search/826874?model=CFounder. VS Oil was a corporate shareholder of Lex Oil in 2019: https://opendatalab.mn/search/5623979
11 Bataa was named as CEO in now archived Instagram posts, shared by AAA’s account. The posts are available in cache through this google search. Original post URLs were: www.instagram.com/p/Cw4XAPryRCT/ and www.instagram.com/p/Czc_kyIBEQp
12 Ownership and full corporate record of Alpha Aurora confirming Bataa Anarchuluu as beneficial owner: https://opendatalab.mn/search/8376344
13 Co-shareholder alongside Lex Oil in Tod Petroleum (Bataa from 2020-10-20; Lex Oil corp from 2019-12-27): https://opendatalab.mn/search/6104894.
14 Companies owned/directed include Commodity Trans (co-owner with Erdenesuren in 2020): https://opendatalab.mn/search/6468365 and Ashid Nandin (co-owner with Erdenesuren 2020/21): https://opendatalab.mn/search/6605982
15 Mongolian Airways Aviation director from 2023-04-19, under Erdenetuul’s ownership: https://opendatalab.mn/search/6894941
16 Referred to as CEO in July 2026 Heliops article: https://www.heliopsmag.com/heliops/articles/breaking-new-ground-mongolias-first-commercial-helicopter-operator/; and company Instagram posts referring to him as COO: https://www.instagram.com/p/C48T41aoEP1/
17Edwards Aviation Consultants, client list: https://edwardsaviationconsultants.co.uk
18 LinkedIn profile of Banzragch Batdavaa showing UBO/director role at APEXPP Commodities DMCC from February 2021: https://mn.linkedin.com/in/batdavaa-banzragch-46120115a.
19 Listed as Executive director of Lex Oil: https://opendatalab.mn/search/5623979 and described as CEO on his LinkedIn.
20 NBG King Mongolia co-owned by Erdenesuren and Batdavaa: https://opendatalab.mn/search/1117110
21 Edwards’ LinkedIn: https://sg.linkedin.com/in/david-edwards-b0b70b187; https://rocketreach.co/david-edwards-email_376686082
22 Announcement made 30 June via Cygnus Global’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DbYXJJdPVmR/. AAA’s ultimate beneficial owner remains Bataa Anarchuluu, per Mongolian corporate databases: https://opendatalab.mn/search/6225578
23 Авлигатай тэмцэх газар / Anti-Corruption Agency of Mongolia, official reply available at: https://i.postimg.cc/NFyDFsWk/524543039-10239378643272260-820441282862761709-n.jpg and https://i.postimg.cc/3NPBvMh5/524849034-10239378643392263-8293872003460448013-n.jpg. Also reported in Mongolian press: https://www.graph.mn/news/3404
24 Shown as production credit and production contact on official website footer: https://themongolkhan.com,
25 Shareholding shown on Hero Entertainment’s official state records: https://opendatalab.mn/search/6163882
