Jordan businessmen, officials go on trial in graft case
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Two dozen businessmen, a customs chief and an ex-minister went on trial for tax evasion and bribery at Jordan's state security court on Tuesday in the country's most high profile corruption case in years.
Prime Minister Omar al Razzaz put fighting graft high among his government's tasks after King Abdullah appointed him in June to defuse a crisis that saw some of the largest protests in years over unpopular IMF-guided economic policies and tax hikes.
The prosecution said chief suspect Owni Mutee and his 28 other accomplices had evaded paying 539 million dinars ($760 million) by bribing officials to dodge customs and taxes from a counterfeit cigarettes and tobacco production business. Among the charges facing all the defendants are "acts that endanger security of the society" and "endangering the economic resources of the country" under tough anti-terrorism laws.
