MPs vote down Audit Bureau amendments

Article grants law enforcement powers to head of bureau, prevents prosecution of its employees

LOWER HOUSE PICTURE-PHOTO BY PETRA
Lawmakers are seen during a Lower House session on Wednesday (Photo: Petra)
AMMAN — Lawmakers on Wednesday rejected amendments to the Audit Bureau’s bill granting the head of the bureau law enforcement status.

Members of Parliament also returned the Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission bill to the legal committee for further study. اضافة اعلان

MPs voted to delete article 6 of the bill which includes two points; the first granting the status of law enforcement to the head of the Audit Bureau and the second forbidding the prosecution, arresting, conducting any investigations against, or filing any criminal or civil lawsuit against any of the Bureau’s employees, as a result of any act related to their duties, except after informing the president of the bureau, unless the employee is arrested in flagrante delicto (i.e. in the act of committing the crime).

MP Abdul Kareem Al-Dughmi described granting the law enforcement status to the head of the Audit Bureau as “belittling” them. As for the provision that prevents prosecution of any of the Bureau’s employees, Dughmi framed it as “unconstitutional”, citing that it violates Article 102.

Article 102 of the Constitution stipulates that “the civil courts in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan shall have jurisdiction over all persons in all matters, civil and criminal, including cases brought by or against the government, except those matters in respect of which jurisdiction is vested in religious or special courts, in accordance with the provisions of the present Constitution or any other.”

Hilda Ajeilat, the executive manager of Jordan Transparency Center, emphasized to Jordan News the importance of the Audit Bureau as a regulating entity that controls and saves public money.

Ajeilat expressed her support for the representative’s decision to deny the article which prevents prosecution of any of the bureau’s employees while describing the rejection of the article that grants law enforcement powers to the head of the Audit Bureau as a “partially good decision,” since the status must be given to a number of the bureau’s employees at the bare minimum.

Meanwhile, MPs voted to return the Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission bill to the legal committee in order to re-focus the content of the bill. This decision was based on a memorandum signed by many representatives.


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