The State Security Court (SSC) on Wednesday issued its verdicts in the high-profile tobacco case following a two-year trial involving former government officials and businessmen.
The court decided to oblige a number of individuals and companies convicted in the case to pay a total of JD179 million and return it to the state treasury. The court also decided to confiscate all materials, vehicles, machinery, jewelry, cash and weapons seized in the case.
Awni Mutee, the principal defendant in the case, was incriminated with the felony of carrying out acts that endanger the safety and security of society and endanger economic resources, as an economic crime committed in association.
The court also decided not to prosecute Mutee for the “second charge against him, which is the felony of carrying out actions that would change the state’s economic entity or endanger the basic conditions of society in association.”
Further, the court found him guilty with the misdemeanors of “customs smuggling” (he was acquitted on some counts under this misdemeanor), merchandise fraud, sales tax evasion, and the illegal use of a registered trademark.
The court acquitted the man of the money laundering felony due to insufficient evidence, as well as the felony of offering a bribe to do an unlawful act or refraining from doing an act that should be done for the lack of evidence as well.
Accordingly, the court handed down Mutee a 20-year prison term, an additional two years and a fine of JD20,000 on all counts and charges.
During a reading of the verdict, the civilian president of the court, Nasser Al-Salamat, said that the decision came “in view of the seriousness of the actions that he (Awni Mutee) committed”, which Al-Salamat described as heinous and daring in terms of the extent of the damage they inflicted on the national economy, and endangering national economic resources and security.
As for the second convict, Salama Salman Salem Al-Alamat, the court decided, unanimously, pursuant to the provisions of the counterterrorism law and amendments thereto, to sentence him to temporary imprisonment for 20 years and a fine of JD20,000.
The court sentenced Bashar Awni Yousef Issa to 5 years in prison plus fees for the first charge. The court said that the convict is a young man, married and the head of a family, thus decided to give him a chance to reform himself and straighten his life path. The court reduced his sentence to 3.5 years imprisonment plus fees.
The same goes for the defendants Issa Youssef Mutee Issa, Muhammad Alalamat, Ismail Abu Mazgul, Amer Alalamat, Raed Hamdan, Mutasem Hajeer, Seif Al-Din Abu Raq’ah, Yazid Bouja, and Mahmoud Hammad whom the court first sentenced to five years in prison before commuting the sentence to 3.5 years, citing the same mitigating circumstances.
The court decided to convict several companies accused in the “tobacco case”, and imposed fines on them. The Military Public Prosecution requested the court to impose the maximum penalties on the criminals in the case.
Additionally, the court decided to imprison the former Director-General of Customs, Wadah Al-Hamoud, in prison for 10 months after finding him guilty of abuse of power and acquitted him of the remaining charges. Al-Hamoud had already spent this period in prison during his arrest pending the case.
He was also acquitted of the charge of endangering the safety and security of society, the felony of accepting bribery, the felony of customs smuggling, and tax evasion.
The court also acquitted former minister Mounir Owais and declared him not responsible for any charges. In June 2019, the court released Owais on bail of 100,000 dinars. The court explained that the decision came “in view of the circumstances of the case, and in view of the man’s old age and health conditions, while keeping the travel ban against him, and the seizure on his movable and immovable assets.”
The court decided to fine “Jaafar Abu Al-Failat” 16 million 566 thousand and 733 dinars in the same case.
Source: Jordan News Agency
