BackThe Board of the Jordanian Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission (JIACC) referred to the Public Prosecution the investigation file related to the services of Al-Bashir Hospital, where investigations showed a number of suspicions of corruption and financial, administrative and legal violations involving public money.
An official source at the Commission said that the contract between the hospital and one of the service companies requires the company to provide administrative and technical services including catering, maintenance of machinery, cleaning, laundry, internal transport, gardening services and general maintenance for two years ending in April 2019 with a total value of 5,147,640 dinars.
Investigations conducted by a specialized team in the Commission showed that the company has illegally reduced the number of manpower required, which led to the provision of the service in a manner inconsistent with the quality and conditions required by the contract, where both the company's crews and some official persons have engaged in these practices.
The source added that the mechanism of filing financial claims and supporting documents by the company has contained some illegal practices committed by the competent public administration in the hospital, due to low levels of control by the observers and audit committees, which led to a waste of public money estimated at hundreds of thousands of Dinars in accordance with the financial claims approved by the hospital management. In the meantime investigations of the Commission showed that the waste of money has exceeded these estimates, which bring about the need for specialized financial expertise at a future stage.
The source confirmed that the Board will keep the file of services provided to government hospitals open until completing the comprehensive review conducted in all hospitals of the Kingdom, and that the specialized teams of the Commission will work side by side with the audit committees formed by the Ministry of Health for government hospitals in the north, to review the soundness and quality of services provided, and ensure soundness of public spending.
Investigation shows also deficiencies of management practices of the hospital and some other illegal violations which will be corrected in coordination with the ministry.
The source pointed out that the Commission requested the Ministry of Health to provide it with contracts concluded with the service companies in other government hospitals, in order to review these contracts and verify the soundness of procedures.
The source confirmed that the Board will keep the file of services provided to government hospitals open until completing the comprehensive review conducted in all hospitals of the Kingdom, and that the specialized teams of the Commission will work side by side with the audit committees formed by the Ministry of Health for government hospitals in the north, to review the soundness and quality of services provided, and ensure soundness of public spending.
Source: Integrity and Anti-Corruption Commission, Jordan
