Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - The Amman Criminal Court on Sunday cleared the former Minister of Tourism of charges brought against him in the high-profile Dead Sea casino corruption scandal.

In its Sunday session, the court cleared former Minister Osama Dabbas of charges he was facing in the defunct deal signed by the government of ex-PM Marouf Bakhit in 2007 to build a casino on the Dead Sea shores, including charges of abuse of office, fraud, and forgery.

In previous sessions, Dabbas testified claiming that the idea of establishing the multimillion-dinar casino was initiated by Bakhit, stressing that as a cabinet member, he only carried out administrative measures.

In 2011, the Lower House of Parliament voted against a motion to indict then-incumbent PM Bakhit in the corruption scandal which took place during his first term in office (2005-7), but voted in favor of indicting Dabbas for involvement in the Casino file. 



Bakhit's government had authorized in 2007 a London-based Palestinian investor to build a casino on the Dead Sea shores, which was later renegotiated under PM Nader Dahabi's term to annul the agreement sparing the treasury $1.4 billion in fines stipulated by the deal.



A Parliamentary investigation committee in 2011, headed by MP Khalil Attiyah, and tasked with probing the case revealed that major bureaucratic gaffes and transgressions were committed by public officials in Bakhit's first term in office, including abuse of power, corruption, fraud, and illegal administrative practices.



The scandal, dubbed "casinogate," caused an public uproar over the hefty penalties imposed in the deal on the Jordanian government.

Sunday's court session cleared all former officials of implication in the Casino file, after a 2-year marathon of court proceedings in the alleged corruption case.