Committee to investigate accusations against prime minister in Jordan
Jordan, Politics, 1/21/2000

A Jordanian parliamentary source said on Wednesday that the Jordanian parliament has elected a nine-member committee to investigate the corruption accusations addressed by independent parliamentarian Mahmoud al-Kharabesha against Prime Minister Abdul Raouf al-Rawabdeh.

The speaker of the Jordanian Parliament, Abdul Hadi al-Majali, announced that the committee is in charge of "examining the documents and information al-Kharabeshah used in raising his accusations and then submitting a report to the parliament on the credibility of the accusations in this respect as soon as possible."

Among the nine members of the elected committee are five independents, two nationalists, one leftist and one independent Islamic.

The Jordanian parliament which includes 80 member decided last Wednesday to investigate these accusations at the request of al-Rawabdeh himself in an unprecedented parliamentary incident in the history of the Hashamite kingdom.

Last Thursday, al-Kharabeshah stressed that he has documents and proofs that support his accusations against al-Rawabdeh that he will submit during the investigations to be made by the parliamentary committee.

For his part, al-Rawabdeh has strongly denied these accusations and defied al-Kharabeshah to prove these accusations.

Al-Rawabdeh vowed to resign if these accusations prove to be true and also ask al-Kharabeshah to quit his post as a member of parliament if the opposite happens (that is al-Rawabdeh is found innocent), and al-Kharabeshah agreed.

In particular, al-Kharabeshah talked about two events of corruption carried out by al-Rawabdeh. The first is connected to Issam al-Rawabdeh (son of the prime minister) who, according to al-Kharabeshah, misinformed investors from the Arab Gulf, wanting to establish a tourism project in Jordan at a cost of US $250 million in Jordan that it is very difficult to get the necessary official licenses for launching such a project.

Al-Kharabeshah continued that al-Rawabdah's son asked the two Gulf investors for 15 million Jordanian dinars (US $21 million) to obtain the necessary official licenses for this project and that the prime minister asked for paying the sum beforehand (before necessary licenses are given).

Al-Kharabeshah continued that the other incident is connected to officials at the Jordanian Ministry of Higher Education who gave a contract bid for educational audiovisuals aids to Raed al-Adwan, al-Rawabdeh's son-in-law, without going through necessary official procedures.

Previous Stories:
  Jordanian committee to investigate accusation against prime minister   (1/20/2000)
  Jordanian premier meets with WHO's Middle East representative   (1/20/2000)
  Seven new ministers in a Cabinet reshuffle in Jordan   (1/17/2000)

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