They said Adel Qudah, a former finance minister along with business tycoon Khaled Shaheen, Mohammad Rawashdeh, a senior adviser to the prime minister and Ahmad Rifai, former head of Jordan's state-managed oil refinery were all given three-year sentences after being found guilty on charges of bribery.
The three officials were convicted of accepting bribes from Shaheen, one of the country's wealthiest businessmen, but other charges of abusing a public post for personal gain were dropped for lack of evidence.
Qudah, who has held several prominent public sector positions, was the first senior government official to face corruption charges in a country where detention of top figures is rare.
At the start of the trial in April, prosecutors said Qudah gained personally during his tenure as the government-appointed chairman of Jordan Petroleum Refinery. They said he sought to give a front company Shaheen owned an exclusivity deal to undertake a billion dollar project to revamp the refinery.
The deal never went through after investors withdrew last year after the global downturn.
The high profile trial, in which the defendants denied wrongdoing, has rocked a political establishment unaccustomed to corruption cases in the administration and state-controlled companies. Previous graft investigations have been low-level affairs targeting minor bureaucrats.
Prime Minister Samir Rifai pledged when he assumed office last December to crack down on corruption and the case was seen as an indicator of Jordan's ability to tackle graft.
Defense lawyers contested the court's legality and said it violated the principle of separation of powers as it was not independent from government. They also said defense requests to bring senior officials to testify in court were overturned.
"The conditions of a fair trial were not attained. The defense was denied the right to fully present its case," Ahmad Najdawi, a prominent lawyer representing Qudah told Reuters.
Critics say the trial, which the media were barred from covering, was a vendetta among powerful business lobbies in a tribally based country where rule of law can be undermined by political influence.
"The trial was settling of scores by influential people who had rival interests in the case and sought to take revenge against my client after they came to power because he stood up to them in this particular affair," Najdawi added.
