'Ministers banned from taking part in any commercial activity'

AMMAN — Ministers are not allowed to take part in any commercial activity of any kind while in office, the Constitutional Court has ruled in its interpretational decision No.1 for 2019, which was published in the Official Gazette in its issue No. 5591. 

The Constitutional Court also banned ministers from joining any commercial ventures or buying portions or shares in companies, while it forbade any Parliament member from acting in an agent capacity for any entity contracted by the government or any other public institution, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Monday.

This interpretation of the Constitutional Court came upon a request by the Cabinet for the interpretation of Article 44 of the Constitution, which states that “no minister may purchase or lease any government property even if the sale or lease thereof has been offered in public auction. He shall not, while holding his ministerial office, become a member of the board of directors of any company or take part in any commercial or financial transaction or receive a salary from any company”.

The Cabinet has submitted the request of interpreting the phrase “or take part in any commercial or financial transaction”, as well as interpreting the phrase “contracting with” in Article75, which states that no person shall become a senator or deputy “who has a material interest in any contract, other than a contract or lease of land and property, with any department of government, provided that this provision shall not apply to any shareholder in a company of more than ten members”.

The decision on banning ministers’ engagement in commercial activities has been taken as such participation can be mistakenly understood as representing the government’s official position, according to Petra.

The court also ruled that in terms of MPs, the interpretation “contracting with” includes indirect contracting, defining it as one made through assigning a third party to deal with the government, banning members of Parliament from being part in such agreements for personal interests or otherwise.