Jordan - Corruption
The law provided criminal penalties for corruption by officials, although the government did not implement the law effectively. There were isolated reports of government corruption during the year. Authorities began showing an increased willingness to open public corruption investigations in recent years. The use of family, business, and other personal connections to advance personal economic interests was widespread. Activists and journalists found it difficult to access government reporting and statistics. They attributed the lack of access to ineffective record keeping and the government’s withholding of information from the public.
In January 2023, Transparency International released its 2022 Corruption Perceptions Index, which issued recommendations including strengthening anti-corruption bodies such as the Integrity and Anti-Corruption Committee (JIACC), aligning legislation to international anti-corruption standards, and increasing public access to government information. A parliamentary memorandum signed 16 July 2023 called on the government to reopen and review its Attarat shale oil power project due to “suspicions of corruption and negligence in the project.” The memorandum called for review of the government’s initial agreement due to its unusually high energy sale prices by the plant to the government as well as an investigation into the “bids” file for the project for suspected bribery. The Attarat project was the subject of international arbitration, which continued through the end of the year and was expected to continue at least through mid-2024.
In August 2023, the Parliamentary Finance Committee conducted a review of alleged corruption cases detailed in reports from the Audit Bureau, an independent government watchdog, from 2018 onwards. Local state-associated media reported the committee resolved many of the cases and referred several others to JIACC for investigation. Through September 2023, JIACC granted protective orders to 252 whistleblowers, informants, and witnesses. This protection included concealing the names and personal data of informants and providing physical protection when necessary; six individuals were granted job protections under whistleblower regulations. By law, disclosing information about the identity of a protected whistleblower was punishable by up to six months’ imprisonment.
In Transparency International's 2011 Corruption Perceptions Index, Jordan ranked 56th out of 182 countries, placing it ahead of several European Union member states like the Czech Republic, Latvia, Greece, and others. For several months in late 2012, leaders of al-Hirak, a small group of tribalists formally loyal to the monarchy, called in hundreds of anti-corruption protesters for regular Friday protests, but the numbers had declined by October 2012, when many of its leaders were arrested. But journalists had begun operating dozens of blogs and web sites accusing the government of corruption and repression of free speech. Demands for an end to corruption played a big role in previous demonstrations and continue to fuel widespread frustration with the monarchy and the government.
In February 2011, a group of Bedouin tribes published an open letter to the king, accusing his wife, Queen Rania, an ethnic Palestinian, of corruption. The 36 signatories called on the king to return “to the treasury land and farms given to the [queen's] Yasin family.” They also called for the introduction of modern election laws to ensure free and transparent voting in the kingdom. And, they warned that if their calls were disregarded, Jordan could be thrown into the same kind of chaos as has been witnessed in other countries affected by the Arab Spring.
The protesters see a very lavish lifestyle, and they hear reports about massive corruption in the state, and there are not enough jobs and the governments are ineffective and the parliament does nothing but bicker. This has come as a shock to the monarchy, because tribesmen in Jordan’s heartland had always been the kingdom’s political backbone.
Jordanian law defines corruption as any act that violates official duties, all acts related to favoritism and nepotism that could deprive others from their legitimate rights, economic crimes, and misuse of power. The use of family, business and other personal connections to advance personal business interests is endemic and regarded by many Jordanians as simply part of the culture and part of doing business. In 2006, Parliament approved a Financial Disclosure Law which officially required public office holders and specified government officials to declare their assets. Parliament also enacted an Anti-Corruption Law in 2006 that created a commission to investigate allegations of corruption. Currently, the commission has referred a number of high profile corruption cases to the judiciary for investigation.
According to local and international NGOs, the government rarely investigated allegations of abuse or corruption, and there were widespread allegations of impunity. Citizens may file complaints of police abuse or corruption with the Public Security Directorate (PSD) human rights office or one of 50 police prosecutors stationed throughout the country. Complaints of abuse and corruption by the gendarmerie may be filed directly with the gendarmerie. A GID liaison officer receives complaints against the GID and refers them to GID personnel for investigation. Complaints against the PSD, gendarmerie, and GID may also be filed with the NCHR or several other NGOs, such as the Arab Organization for Human Rights (AOHR). The PSD’s preventive security office is tasked with investigating allegations of police corruption. The PSD and gendarmerie try their personnel internally with their own courts, judges, and prosecutors; reports about the proceedings are not published.
The law provides criminal penalties for official corruption; however, the government did not implement the law effectively. Officials often engaged in corrupt practices with impunity. During the year the government investigated allegations of corruption; however, there were very few convictions. The use of family, business, and other personal connections to advance personal business interests was widespread. There were allegations of lack of transparency in government procurement, government appointments, and dispute settlement.
The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is the main body responsible for combating corruption. Despite increased investigations some local observers questioned the commission’s effectiveness due to insufficient staff and the small number of investigations involving senior officials or large government projects. There were credible allegations that the ACC failed to investigate high-profile cases involving high-level government officials.
There were no high-profile convictions for corruption during the year 2011. In October, 2011, Abdullah appointed former Hague Court judge Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh as prime minister of Jordan, replacing Marouf al-Bakhit who had earlier been accused of corruption. Al-Khasawneh was widely viewed as a “clean” politician.
On 25 February 2011, officials permitted business tycoon Khalid Shahin to leave prison to receive medical treatment abroad because of an obesity-related health condition that his physician claimed could not be treated in Amman. The State Security Court had sentenced Shahin and two other former officials to three years in prison for bribery related to the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company in July 2010. The release triggered public anger after pictures were published of Shahin eating at a restaurant with his family in London. On 18 August 2011, Shahin was brought back to the country to complete his sentence.
The law requires certain government officials to declare their assets privately. In the event of a complaint, the chief justice may review the disclosures. Under the law failure to disclose assets could result in a prison sentence of one week to three years or a fine of five to 200 dinars ($7 to $280). As of the end of 2011, no officials had been punished for failing to submit a disclosure.
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