Jordan dismisses Khalid Shahin case

The Jordanian parliament's lower house on Monday shelved a case concerning a previous government’s decision to allow convicted business tycoon Khalid Shahin to travel abroad for treatment, citing a lack of evidence of corruption. Shahin, who was serving a three-year term in prison for bribery and corruption in a case related to the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company expansion project, was allowed to leave Jordan in February last year on the basis of a joint medical report signed by doctors from the private and public sectors stating that his obesity-related health condition could not be treated in Jordan. Of the 73 deputies present at the session, 53 MPs voted in favour of the committee's recommendation that investigated alleged illegalities in the controversial decision by former premier Marouf Bakhit's government, declining to refer the case to the prosecutor general for investigation. "The panel, having thoroughly investigated the file, has found no convincing evidence to refer the case to the prosecutor general for investigation, recommending that the case be disregarded," the committee said in its final report, which was read yesterday by its rapporteur, Zarqa Deputy Ali Khalaileh. Those exonerated include prime minister Marouf Bakhit, health minister Yaseen Hosban, interior minister Saad Hayel Srour, and justice minister Hussein Mujalli. Khalaileh said that Shahin was still in prison, and had two operations in Germany pointing out that the former prime minister "is a statesman" and he could do either right or wrong. He explained: "The perspective adopted by Bakhit's government concerning Shahin's travel was the superiority of the right to life and the state treasury did not pay any costs of Khaled Shahin's treatment." Without accusing any former officials, several deputies called for the case to be referred to the judiciary regardless of the committee’s findings, with some of them claiming the House had become an entity for "cleaning” corruption files. "With the recently endorsed amendments to Article 56 of the Constitution, the Chamber has become a factor in obstructing justice," said Ajloun MP Samih Momani, who called for revisiting the Constitution to allow the judiciary to investigate cases involving ministers without the permission of deputies. For his part, Deputy Samih Al-Momani said: "The parliament obstructed justice as any person accused of corruption should be sent to judiciary not to the parliament. There should be constitutional amendments in order not to make the parliament a shelter for corrupt officials." Southern Badia Deputy Mohammad Maraayeh said the Chamber had granted all former premiers and ministers involved in corruption cases "pardons". "There is no corruption in the country whatsoever and all corruption files that have dominated the public demands have been found to have no corruption," Maraayah said sarcastically. In response, Balqa Deputy Mahmoud Kharabsheh stated that the investigative committees were formed with the consent of deputies, who he said should respect their findings. "The House performs a purely legislative role, not a political role, and has nothing to do with power struggles or settling scores," he said "It is unfair to present our ministers as a sacrifice to the boiling street only to gain popularity and votes," said Karak MP Atef Tarawneh, who pointed out that the panel that investigated the Shahin case was made up of professional lawyers and judges. Ajloun Deputy Ahmad Qudah said the case had been exaggerated and misinterpreted to the point of neglecting the essential issue of a Jordanian being permitted to leave the country for medical care. "If prisoners of war have to be given decent treatment, then what about a Jordanian with a difficult health condition?" Qudah asked. The Islamic Labour Front party on Monday condemned the dismissal of the case. Muhammad Zyoud, the official responsible for the national file in the party said: "The parliament is continually disappointing us with its biased accomplishments towards these symbols of corruption and the parliament itself has become 'the protector of the corrupt' instead of representing the Jordanians' struggle against corruption."