Anti-graft agency takes legal action in new cases

AMMAN — The Jordan Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission (JIACC) has referred a new set of cases to the JIACC’s Public Prosecutor to take the necessary legal action against suspected perpetrators.

The most prominent file is related to suspected financial, administrative and legal violations allegedly committed by the director general of a loans guarantee company, in which the Central Bank of Jordan (CBJ) is a stakeholder, after he reportedly misled the CBJ’s Board of Directors to trim the stakes of CBJ in the company to below 50 per cent to keep it out of the Audit Bureau’s jurisdiction. 

Also involved in the file is a conflict of interest case as the same executive allegedly appointed his brother as the director of the loan guarantee department at the company, despite the Audit Bureau’s reservations on the decision.

“Investigations have also proved that the director general was covering the illegal practices of his brother, which led to the waste of public funds” the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Another major case is related to a joint venture company owning a battery factory that sold 900,000 shares worth JD5, 500,000. 

The anti-graft agency claimed that it later found that there were violations and manipulation in the sale process that affected shareholders’ rights.

The JIACC referred financial, administrative and legal violations allegedly committed by the board chairman of Rum /Aladdin, along with the company’s financial director. A liquidation committee of the company discovered the existence of “fake inventory items that did not exist”.

Financial and administrative violations allegedly committed by one of the main directors in Royal Jordanian, in addition to alleged legal, administrative and financial violations in a number of the Kingdom’s municipalities were also referred to the JIACC’s public prosecutor.

The JIACC’s board also referred violations that took place in the Arab Company for White Cement Industry, including the “unnecessary” appointment of more than 40 employees in the company which has already been suffering major financial losses due to weak production and a decline in marketing capacity, according to the agency, which added that the estimated financial cost of these appointments reached about JD200,000 annually, in addition to purchasing a JD18,000 crusher that turned out to be without an engine and was not used at all.

The JIACC’s Board also referred minor violations that included the manipulation in the input and cancellation processes of the social security subscribers lists, embezzlement and financial violations allegedly committed by a financial officer at Al-Hassan Youth City Club /Irbid, similar violations at the Jordan Valley Authority, and a case in which sick leaves were reportedly given to two government teachers at one of Amman’s secondary schools who, it turned out, were both travelling abroad.