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Ammon News - AMMAN A Royal Decree was issued Monday endorsing the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters between Jordan and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

The Senate's Legal Affairs Committee last Monday approved the Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance on Criminal Matters between Jordan and the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland as referred from the Lower House of Parliament.

The treaty, approved by the Lower House earlier in the month, paves the way for bringing back Jordanians who have committed crimes and are residing in Britain.

During parliament's deliberation on the treaty, some MPs expressed fears that the treaty was approved as a way to fast track the return of radical Muslim cleric Mahmoud Othman, known as Abu Qatada to Jordan from Britain, The Jordan Times reported earlier in the month.

The British government has been unable to deport Abu Qatada, who was tried and convicted in absentia in Jordan on charges of terrorism, for many years.

However, Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour said, in remarks during the House session, that this agreement serves Jordan’s interests and that the government will use it to ensure the return of criminals who fled to the UK.

The majority of the deputies supported the agreement, stressing that it will allow Jordan to bring back certain public figures suspected of corruption.

Political observers also note that the treaty may also prove useful in extraditing the former CEO of the Jordan Phosphates Mines Corporation (JPMC) Walid Kurdi, who was sentenced in absentia last week to 37.5 years in prison and over JD 280 million in fines in a high profile corruption case.

Kurdi, who departed Jordan to London last year and has been in the UK since, was indicted with ten counts of abuse of office and embezzlement charges allegedly to have taken place during his term in the company from 2008 until 2012.