Jordanian authorities detained last week as part of a major graft crackdown Adel Qudah, a former finance minister, top business mogul Khaled Shaheen, Mohammad Rawashdeh, a senior economic adviser of the prime minister and Ahmad Rifai, the ex-manager of Jordan Petroleum Refinery Company.
The state security prosecutor ordered their arrest last Wednesday pending an investigation of alleged graft, bribery and abuse of a public post in a project to bring strategic investors for a $1.2 billion expansion of the country's sole refinery.
Detention of senior officials in Jordan is relatively rare and Qudah, a longtime top economic decision-maker, is the first ex-heavyweight minister to answer corruption charges.
Judicial sources say the issue is whether officials were bribed to grant a consortium led by Shaheen, a billionaire, a 15-year exclusivity deal to undertake the mega project when other bidders withdrew after the global downturn.
"We are looking into allegations of bribery and abuse of public post by a senior official," a senior judicial source told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
The list of names and firms whose assets -- cash, real estate, stock -- have been temporarily frozen by state security prosecutors was distributed to banks, the stock exchange and real estate registry, judicial sources said.
"In my memory there has not been this level of injustice leveled against a former official by such sweeping freeze of assets of him and his close relatives," said Ahmad Najdawi, a prominent lawyer, defending Qudah said.
Judicial sources say the latest steps were precautionary to ensure no assets are tampered with or secretly transferred or liquidated before the authorities complete the legal probe.
Shaheen, one of the country's wealthiest men and a former confidant of the country's top brass, had been the government's contractor of choice for major security projects.
The tycoon handled US-funded contracts to build Amman-based training facilities for Iraqi and Palestinian security forces.
Prime Minister Samir Rifai said combating graft was a top priority of his administration and has promised that top officials would be held accountable.
His appointment last December heralded a wider shake up to ward off popular disenchantment over economic contraction after years of growth and allegations of rampant official graft.
But until the latest arrests, moves to tackle graft in administration and state controlled companies where patronage and nepotism is extensive in a tribally based system had been limited to a number of minor investigations and arrests.
