CB Jordan under fire over Hamas freeze

Deputies from the Jordanian Parliament demanded on Wednesday 17 September that the government should sack the Central Bank governor of his duties for "haste" and his "unilateral" decision to freeze accounts of Islamic resistance movement Hamas and other organizations in local banks.

In a memo sent to Lower House Speaker Sa'd Hayil al-Surur, 70 deputies out of 110 expressed their wish to see CBJ Governor Umayyah Tuqan discharged from his post for "recklessness in making the account freeze decision and harming the country's reputation."

News reports Monday said Jordan froze Hamas' accounts days after the EU blacklisted the group as a "terrorist organization," freezing its funds.

Information Minister and Government Spokesperson Nabil al-Sharif was quick to respond to the reports Tuesday, declaring that the CBJ had retracted its decision while pointing out that the government was unaware of the decision until it learned about it from the media.

Although deputies were satisfied with the retraction they remained adamant that Tuqan should be held accountable for a step they believed "was taken without the prime minister or government's knowledge."

During the bi-weekly session, some legislators questioned the stark contradiction between government statements and those of the CBJ.

Others, such as MP Abdallah al-Akaylah (Tafilah, 1st District) went further, accusing Tuqan of being "a tool in American hands." [Passage omitted]