Ammon News - By Eyad Jaghbeer

AMMONNEWS - Convicted business tycoon Khalid Shaheen allegedly returned nearly JD 12 million to the state treasury from funds he received in return for brokering the financing of Al Disi water conveyance project.

An informed government source told Ammon News that Shaheen returned the funds and two farms in Al Dulail district after a settlement he reached with authorities.

The lands of the two farms were registered in the name of one of Shaheen's brothers, the source added.

Shaheen was questioned by a military prosecutor in late August in the Disi water conveyance project, where he faces charges including embezzlement, theft of public funds, and fraud.

It is noted that Shaheen, who is an inmate in Salhoub prison, submitted a petition to Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh several days ago requesting to be treated at home rather than in prison or to conduct a retrial in the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Co. (JPRC) expansion case, for which he was convicted.


Shaheen was convicted by the State Security Court in 2010 of bribery in the high-profile $1.2 billion contract scandal to expand the Jordan Petroleum Refinery Co. (JPRC), the country's sole oil refinery, and sentenced to three years in prison, along with three other state JPRC officials.

The government's allowing Shaheen to leave Jordan in late February under the pretext of seeking medical care abroad caused major public opinion scandal after local media outlets reported Shaheen being sited dining in a London cafe with his family.

Shaheen was returned to Jordan in August from Germany, where he was allegedly being treated for a number of illnesses.