Jordan touts its extradition of fraud suspect
Jordan yesterday said the extradition and arrest of a businessman wanted for tax evasion was a sign that its anti-corruption crusade would continue.
Jordanian Prime Minister Omar Razzaz said the extradition from Turkey to Jordan of Awni Mutee, a businessman at the centre of a $200 million (Dh734m) fraud, late on Monday showed the government’s “war on corruption is a principle, not just a slogan”.
“There is no protection for the corrupt and the government will not back down in its fight against corruption,” Mr Razzaz told Parliament yesterday.
Later in a meeting with the heads of Jordan’s public security department, he said that “the government will not stop at the Mutee case, we will go after anyone who dares to tamper with, or target, public funds and any case that harms public interest”.
For months, the government has repeatedly referred to its pursuit of Mr Mutee, who fled Jordan to Lebanon in July, as its commitment to clean up corruption.
The businessman is accused of leading a ring that made and imported fake brand cigarettes, which cost the government $200m in lost fees and taxes.
Jordan’s anti-corruption drive has support from the top. In August, King Abdullah announced to the Cabinet that: “We want to break the back of corruption in the country. It’s enough.”
The extradition and arrest came from royal directives, the Jordanian news agency Petra reported.
Mr Mutee’s extradition from Turkey to Jordan came hours after a phone call between King Abdullah and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The highly publicised case and arrest comes as the Razzaz government tries to rebuild public trust and quell growing discontent and protests over the country’s economy.
Unemployment in Jordan has reached 18.6 per cent, estimated at more than 30 per cent of Jordanians aged between 15 and 30.
The government has pushed through unpopular economic measures over the past two years, such as lifting bread subsidies, taxing fuel and lowering the threshold for taxable income to 18,000 dinars (Dh93,000) for each household a year to lower debt levels of about 95 per cent of GDP.
The measures were part of efforts to meet requirements of a $723m line of credit from the International Monetary Fund.
With government austerity measures, rising prices and an unpopular income tax law, corruption has re-emerged as a hot topic and has driven a protest movement that sparked violent clashes with security forces last Thursday.
In the latest public opinion poll by the Centre for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan released on December 2, 21 per cent of citizens cited the “presence of corruption” as the reason they believed the country was on the wrong track, the second most common response behind rising prices, cited by 29 per cent of respondents.
Observers say the government can regain public confidence not only through the arrest, but a transparent prosecution of Mr Mutee.
“As the Mutee case goes through the court system, it is important for the government to show that the state is credible and investigate whether others are involved in this case – as many in the public suspect,” says Musa Shteiwi, director of the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan.
“Mutee is just a front man, we want to see serious efforts that go after the big names we know of to show that Jordan truly is a country of laws,” said Mohammed, a protester from a southern Jordanian town.
He and other activists said that despite Mr Mutee’s arrest, they are set to continue their protests over the economy and corruption tomorrow. “Once we see big heads roll, then we can trust this government.”
Opposition politicians have echoed calls for greater accountability.
“We have grabbed one Mutee but there are many Mutees remaining under different names,” Dima Tahboub, MP for the Islamic Action Front, said in a tweet.