Yesterday, Jordanian Prime Minister Omar Al-Razzaz promised to intensify a campaign against tax evasion, at a time when Speaker of the Parliament, Atef Al-Tarawneh, accused the government of targeting his family and abusing the judiciary.
The campaign comes as the economy suffers from a liquidity shortage, as tax evading has denied the country billions of dollars in revenue over the past few years.
For weeks, the government launched a crackdown on senior businessmen and former politicians suspected of evading paying taxes and customs and involved in money laundering. The campaign became more urgent as the Kingdom's finances were affected by the effects of the new Corona pandemic "Covid 19".
Al-Razzaz said in his weekly televised address to the people that protecting public money and fighting corruption is a national duty.
On the other hand, officials explained that the tax authorities have raided about 650 companies so far, and were sometimes accompanied by security forces. Officials described the campaign as the largest to combat tax evasion in decades.
The government said it had frozen the assets of dozens of companies and businessmen, amid charges of tax evasion.
She added that she will track down the foreign shelters, as Jordanian rich people keep depositing their money to avoid taxes.
Some critics have accused the government of using the campaign to crack down on its political opponents, including some of the country's most prominent business figures, including former ministers and prominent politicians.
On the other hand, government officials deny this, and say the goal is to ensure justice and ensure that no one is above the law.
Charge and target
This comes while Atef Tarawneh, Speaker of the House of Representatives (First Chamber of Parliament), accused his country's government of targeting his family and abusing the judiciary.
This came in a statement for Tarawneh, following the decision of the Prosecutor General for Integrity and Anti-Corruption to arrest his brother Ahmed, who is one of the Kingdom's top contractors, after the Public Prosecution assigned him the crime of cheating in the business of contracting and the misdemeanor of wasting public money.
Al-Tarawneh stressed the importance of enforcing the royal directives that call for fighting corruption, not to be altered by organs in the state towards a targeted targeting of the Speaker and his family.
He also said that what is happening now is a dangerous precedent and goes beyond the honor of political rivalry, leading to a defective distortion of the family of the Speaker of Parliament.
anti-Corruption
It is noteworthy that King Abdullah II called on his government, on more than one occasion, to combat corruption, to convert all those found guilty of corruption into the judiciary, and to apply the law to everyone.
The two-month public isolation measures to tackle the Corona pandemic have paralyzed companies and the business sector, and have deprived the kingdom of tens of millions of dollars in revenue, leading to the most severe economic downturn in two decades.
The government expects the economy to shrink about 3.5% this year, which is in stark contrast to estimates by the International Monetary Fund, which forecast growth of 2% before the epidemic.
The aid-dependent kingdom, which is already implementing a three-year monetary fund reform program, turned to the international bond market this month to borrow $ 1.75 billion.