The ten defendants in the case of embezzlement of 800,000 dinars from the Ministry of Youth said that they are not guilty of the eight charges that were assigned to them by the Public Prosecution, and the court decided to try defendant No. 11 in absentia after being duly notified.

The ninth commission specialized in looking into corruption felonies at the Amman Penalty Court held its first session in the case via remote video communication technology, and the Jordan News Agency (Petra) attended today, Sunday, under the chairmanship of Judge Nasser Al-Salahin, and the membership of Judge Fadi Musleh, and the presence of all the accused, and attorneys Defending them with the exception of Defendant No. 11.

An electronic link was established with the Juwaida and Zarqa Correction and Rehabilitation Centers, where the nine detainees are in the case, and the court asked them about their personal data and their jobs, as it was found that seven of them are over fifty years old and approaching sixty for some of them, and two of them are over the age of forty and entrusted Most of them are lawyers to defend them, with the exception of one defendant. During the session, the Public Prosecutor requested that he be given the opportunity to call the Public Prosecution’s witnesses in the next session.

The court followed the charges against all of the defendants, which amounted to eight counts, namely embezzlement, investing in a public office, interfering with an investment in a public office, forgery, using a forgery, negligence in public office work, wasting public money, and a money laundering felony.

The court will hear, through a series of upcoming sessions, 62 witnesses presented by the Public Prosecution in the case file, one of whom has 67 pages of testimony papers, and the second session in this case will be on the sixth of next October.

The Public Prosecution arrested the Assistant Secretary-General for Financial and Administrative Affairs in the Ministry of Youth, a director working in Al Hussein Youth City, an employee of the Files Division, a warehouse warden, the head of the Administrative Affairs Department, the Head of the Secretariats Department, and a supervisor of one of the youth centers in the ministry. And the defense attorneys of the accused asked to sponsor their clients and release them, and that they do not pose a danger to society, and the court replied that their arrest was precautionary and not a punishment for them according to the law, and the court asked them to submit requests for sponsorship according to the rules, and the court will consider it and take its decision on that.

The Public Prosecutor requested that the 11 accused be duly tried after being informed through the official channels of the charges against him, and through the most widely distributed newspapers in the Kingdom, and the court decided to proceed with his trial in absentia. –(Petra)