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Ammon News - By Banan Malkawi

AMMONNEWS - Reports that convicted business tycoon Khalid Shaheen was granted a diplomatic passport by a UN agency does not offer any legal immunity against his extradition back to Jordan, spokesperson of the Jordanian Foreign Ministry Muhammad Kayed said.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson said in response to news reports that UN Agency IIMSAM (Intergovernmental Institution for the Use of Micro- Algae Spirulina Against Malnutrition) granted Shaheen a diplomatic passport after appointing him as a Goodwill Ambassador, that this document, "or any other," does not give any immunity or diplomatic privileges recognized internationally, and will not bear any implications on his status as a "convict," Addustour daily newspaper reported.

Shaheen was convicted by the State Security Court (SSC) in 2010 of bribery and corruption in the high-profile Jordan Petroleum Refinery Co. expansion corruption case, and was sentenced to three years in prison, along with three other JPRC officials.

Kayed added that the Foreign Ministry responded to the correspondences sent by IIMSAM and informed the UN agency that the Jordanian special military tribunal has convicted and sentenced Shaheen, and that the sentence is still valid.

The Jordanian government had allowed Shaheen to depart the country in February 2011 under the pretext of seeking medical treatment in the United States.

The government insists that Shaheen will be asked to return to Jordan to complete his sentencing, and Shaheen had responded in statements to the press and to government officials that he will return to Jordan after completing his treatment.

The Foreign Ministry on Tuesday stressed that the diplomatic passport extended to Shaheen does not grant any legal internationally-recognized pretext within the framework of international immunity and privileges.

Shaheen's wife and children had returned to Amman earlier this month from the UK, where Shaheen was spotted dining in a cafe with his family, the reports which stirred a major public opinion scandal as Shaheen had informed the government he was traveling to the United States.

It was later revealed that Shaheen's entry Visa into the US was revoked following his conviction.

Two ministers in Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit's government resigned last month after taking the blow for the scandal.