AMMAN -- The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) prosecutors on Monday charged former chairman of the Jordan Phosphate Mines Company (JPMC) with 10 counts of "abuse of office" during his service in the firm in 2008-2011.
The decision came few days after the ACC decided to freeze the assets of the former CEO, Walid Kurdi, who currently lives in the UK.
Kurdi is a suspect in a case involving marketing and shipping deals the JPMC signed with foreign firms, estimated at $40 million.
The ACC has also estimated that the size of funds in other suspected corruption cases related to JPMC's sales of DAB fertilisers stands at JD300 million, accumulating between 2007 and 2012.
The ACC said that the JPMC sold the fertilisers to a company in Dubai, which in turn sold the fertiliser to an Indian importer, with difference between the two prices estimated at around JD152 million.
The JPMC file was in the spotlight last year when a Lower House panel revisited the privatisation process of the company.
The committee's final recommendation to take legal action against senior officials involved in the process was turned down by an overwhelming House majority. The panel listed 61 persons as "most likely" involved in corruption cases relating to the JPMC file.
As part of the ongoing anti-corruption fight, the ACC decided Monday to refer several business tycoons to the prosecutor general for their alleged involvement in graft practices.
The businessmen included Younes Qawasmi, Haytham Dahleh, Osama Shahid, Hatem Shahid, Salaman Abbasi, Nabil Masri, Bashar Zu'bi and Mohammed Qaryuti, according to the ACC.
The decision came after the anti-graft body carried out a basic investigation that led to implicating the eight men in cases of "abuse of office" while they were chairpersons or members of boards at public shareholding companies, a commission official told The Jordan Times.
The move followed months of investigation and gathering of evidence by the ACC team in three companies, namely Aman for Securities, Osoul for Investment and Financial Services and the Arab Real Estate Development Company.
© Jordan Times 2013
