Jordan's government unveiled strengthened legal measures on Sunday to fight corruption and announced an expansion of efforts to collect taxes and prevent evasion.
Amendments introduced to the 2020 Integrity and Anti Corruption Commission Law will grant the anti-corruption body greater autonomy and legal backing to investigate a wider scope of potential crimes, the government announced at a press conference.
Key amendments include giving the Jordanian Integrity and Anti Corruption Commission (JIACC) greater financial and administrative independence from the government and empowers it to pursue corruption cases through the judiciary under recently passed Economic Crimes Law.
Under the changes, which will be forwarded to parliament for approval, the JIACC is granted the right to independently investigate suspected money laundering, tax evasion, the improper exchange of “favours”, as well as the right to “settle” with individuals and groups who return embezzled funds.
The amendments also give the commission greater legal backing and tools to investigate political corruption, including bribes, improper gifts and quid pro quos.
A particular focus was laying down the legal framework to investigate and expose abuse of public office or abuse of influence for personal gain or that of others.
“This definition of abuse of influence is the use of public office to provide a job, a service, contract, supply bid, or any decision or advantage that is not deserved,” Jordan's Minister of Media Amjad Adaileh said.
The amendments allow the commission to monitor and follow up on sudden, questionable gains of wealth or assets of officials, private individuals and groups.
The government also said it was expanding tax collection services and inspections and raids to detect tax evaders.
Finance Minister Mohammad Al Ississ said the goal was to increase government revenue and tackle its widening deficit while not imposing new taxes or raising taxes on average citizens.
“Jordan’s path is through tackling tax evasion, not raising taxes on middle-income citizens,” Mr Al Ississ said.
He said the increasingly used practice of raiding suspected tax evaders was a “last resort” for government agencies.
After repeatedly raising income tax and removing personal tax exemptions in 2019 and 2020, the government has recently focused on the collection of income tax from corporations.
A 2018 study revealed at least 132,000 companies across Jordan engage in some form of tax evasion, which cost government coffers an estimated $100 million to $200 million or more per year.
Before the Covid-19 pandemic affected the economy, Jordan was set for a $1.2 billion budget deficit and struggled to eliminate public spending, with national debt standing at 96 per cent of its GDP.
________________
Coronavirus in the Middle East
-
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, June 14, 2020. Abu Dhabi residents exercise on the reopened side of the Corniche as the UAE gradually returns to normal life as restrictions are being eased. Victor Besa / The National Section: NA Reporter: -
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, June 14, 2020. Abu Dhabi government road workers takes a break at the reopened side of the Corniche as the UAE gradually returns to normal life as restrictions are being eased. Victor Besa / The National Section: NA Reporter: -
Medical staff in the intensive care unit in Al Emarat hospital in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. EPA -
Medical staff in the intensive care in Al Emarat hospital in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region in Iraq. EPA -
Palestinian trainers, from the Palestine Athletic Federation, take part in an online CECS Level 1 course, with trainers from the World Athletics Federation, in Gaza City during the Coronavirus pandemic. AFP -
A Bahraini vendor, wearing a face mask, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), reads a newspaper as he waits for customers at his fruits stand, in Central Market, in Manama, Bahrain. REUTERS -
A Bahraini man, wearing a face mask, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), shops at a vegetables stand, in Central Market, in Manama, Bahrain. REUTERS -
Farmers flatten the soil using horses to prepare the agricultural land for growing rice, amid concerns over the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Abu Kabir, Sharqia Governorate, north of Cairo, Egypt. REUTERS -
A farmer works at his rise field at agricultural land, amid concerns over the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Abu Kabir, Sharqia Governorate, north of Cairo, Egypt. REUTERS -
Citizens on bougroun Street wear mandatory face masks to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, in Rabat, Morocco. Morocco decided to gradually reduce the closing procedures and extended the public health emergency until July 10, according to a joint statement from the Ministry of Health and Ministry of Interior. EPA
