Ammon News - AMMAN (Petra) — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Sunday announced the launch of the 2013-2017 national anti-corruption strategy, designed to assist the Kingdom continue its drive to combat corruption and raise public awareness of the phenomenon.

Ensour made the announcement during the inauguration of a regional workshop on enhancing judicial integrity, attended by justice ministers and legal experts from 13 countries.

The first anti-corruption strategy was launched five years ago for the years 2008-2012 and was prepared in coordination between the Anti-Corruption Commission and the EU, and implemented through a twinning project with Finland.

In his address at Sunday’s workshop, the premier expressed the government’s full support for the judiciary, upon His Majesty King Abdullah’s directives.

Stressing the independence of the judiciary in the Kingdom, he said the Anti-Corruption Commission was established to deal with wrongdoings and immoral practices by some members of influential brackets to achieve personal interests. These individuals were able to obstruct legislation that deters attempts to misuse public money, Ensour said, noting that the ACC was established upon the King’s directives to deal with these illegal acts.

At present, the state’s responsibilities, including those of its different entities and the number of cases referred to court have increased and maybe even doubled, he noted, attributing this to the numerous challenges facing the Kingdom due to the lack of security and stability in neighbouring countries.

The growing influx of hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees into Jordan, and previously Iraqis, in addition to the Arab and foreign guest workers already in the Kingdom, has contributed to increasing these challenges.