Home for Christmas ... Sarah Armstrong. Photo: Tanya Ingrisciano
IT'S the Christmas-night reunion her mother barely dared dream of.
The Australian lawyer, Sarah Armstrong, boarded a flight home to Tasmania on Tuesday night for a Christmas reunion with her family, after having been detained in Mongolia for two months.
''I've been like a child waiting [for] a present,'' Yvonne Armstrong said while awaiting her daughter's arrival.
''It's a beautiful relief.''
Mrs Armstrong spoke to her daughter briefly on Tuesday afternoon after she arrived in Sydney after being allowed to board a plane out of Mongolia.
She said her daughter was tired after her ordeal.
Ms Armstrong was barred from boarding a flight from Ulan Bator to Hong Kong in mid-October because authorities wanted to question her over corruption allegations.
Mongolian officials claimed she might have witnessed alleged corruption and money-laundering, although details of the case have remained sketchy.
They said Ms Armstrong was wanted over an investigation into the former chief of Mongolia's mining authority, who is reportedly suspected of illegally handling mining licences.
On Monday her employer, SouthGobi Resources, a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, said Mongolia's Independent Authority against Corruption had ended its questioning of Ms Armstrong.
SouthGobi said the authority was continuing its inquiry into the sale of certain SouthGobi licences and the involvement of government officials linked to
the case.
Amy Corderoy, with AAP and AFP
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