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Ammon News - The Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission (IACC) council referred a number of financial and administrative violations committed by the Cham Palace Hotel and the National Tourism Development Company, responsible for following up on investments of the Social Security Fund during the years 2017-2019.

In a press statement on Sunday, an official source at the IACC said that the hotel's losses, as a result of these violations, were estimated at JD555,306, while the net losses of the hotel stood at JD6 million.

The violations, the source added, included not depositing the sums collected from the hotel operations and the receivables collected from the owners of tourist offices at the approved banks. Instead, the sums were kept in cash at the hotel under orders from the executive director. Other violations include renting and offering discounts ranging from 10 to 15 percent and free rooms to the owners of tourist offices without obtaining the approval of the company responsible for following up on the investments of Social Security Fund.

The council also referred a number of violations in the Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority, specifically the Al-Riwaq Market, after discovering that some market occupants have 'symbolic' lease contracts, some of which are verbal contracts, in addition to lax collection of due wages since the establishment of the market until 2019, estimated at JD500,000 and lack of oversight on the misuse of electrical loads by tenants, leading to high costs. The electrical load also led to a fire outbreak and the closure of the market.

The IACC also referred a case involving manipulation in the maintenance of the Zarqa Municipality’s vehicles. Investigations found that procurement requests were made under false tenders, in addition to the replacement of the vehicles that needed maintenance with others, wasting more than JD81,500.

(Petra)