Former top tax officials, suspected partners, charged with graft

AMMAN — Prosecutors at the Jordan Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission (JIACC) on Wednesday imposed a travel ban and seizure of movable and immovable assets of Bashar Saber, former director general of the Income and Sales Tax Department (ISTD), in addition to charging him with office misuse.

JIACC also took similar measures against Saber’s partner in his tax consultancy office and Abdul Hakim Halawani, owner of Halawani Company for being involved in the same case, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The commission referred the case to the prosecution several months ago, said Petra, adding that the suspected ISTD chief took measures, in agreement with the other suspects, that led to unlawfully reducing the due taxes on the said company from JD6 million to JD1.5 million.

In a related decision, JIACC’s prosecutors have placed in custody Mohammad Asfour, a former director of South Amman Tax Department and another employee at Jweideh Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre for two weeks after charging them of misusing public office.

The two suspects have allegedly slashed due taxes on a taxpayer by JD56,000.

An official from JIACC said that the commission’s cadres would be tracking any case of public funds misuse.

The development came amid a heated debate over the taxation system, with the former and the incumbent government highlighting tax evasion as a serious problem that needs to be addressed in a new law.

In its proposed version, the government of Hani Mulki toughened penalties on tax evasion and re-labelled the violation from misdemeanour to felony.