Graft watchdog to evaluate gov’t integrity ‘separately’

AMMAN – Prime Minister Hani Mulki on Wednesday said that reports of the Jordan Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission (JIACC) have to also measure the integrity of the government as a whole, besides individual administrations and other sectors, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The remarks came during a meeting with JIACC President Mohammad Allaf, who presented Mulki with the 2015 report of the ombudsman bureau and the anti-corruption commission before they were cancelled and succeeded by the JIACC.

The premier directed the JIACC to focus on administrative loopholes that would lead to corruption and concentrate on susceptible sectors especially cash generating agencies, stressing the importance of protecting public money and conserving resources.

To further enhance integrity in public administration, Mulki requested the commission to make the government's policies and decisions subject to integrity evaluation in a way that guarantees veracity of the Cabinet measures and safeguards national resources from all forms of violation, noting that success in such a process helps achieving development goals.

The anti-graft report outlines the achievements of the commission one of which is that it  received 1072 cases during 2015, of which it processed 956, mainly by referring them to the general prosecutor office, while there were five cases that were referred to the witness protection unit.

Allaf said that the cases mainly involved misuse of office, negligence, embezzlement, unsound investment, forgery, wasta (using personal connections to obtain undeserved gains), scam, bribery and one case of money laundering.

Among the most noticeable cases in 2015, a total of 32 cases involving tax and custom evasion worth JD110 million were handled, resulting in restoring 50 per cent of the sum, the official said.