A legal complaint has been filed with Jordan’s Attorney general against Amman Net’s Daoud Kuttab regarding his recent investigative report on the imprisonment of an American-Jordanian businessman. The complaint charges Kuttab with false information regarding the report on January 7th in AmmanNet entitled: “American-Jordanian businessman in jail on background of a stolen check.”
Attorney general Rami Tarawneh held a short question and answer with Daoud Kuttab regarding the term “stolen check,” which was the basis of the complaint. Kuttab told the Attorney general that the term was taken from the court documents and that the person presenting the check was asked for comment but refused to comment. “I told the attorney general that the aim of the article was the pursuit of the truth and that there is no attempt to besmirch the reputation of anyone.”
Kuttab also noted that the investigation was given to the company lawyer for review before publishing and it was deemed fit to print on the basis that all court proceedings in Jordan are open to the public.
Attorney Akef Daoud the lawyer for businessman Munther Daoud who is still in the Remeen prison told Ammannet “that in fact the check referred to for 710,000 JD dated June 16th 2015 was in fact stolen from the Buffalo Wings safe when Adel was a partner. And even though the partnership ended with a well-endowed compensation in which the former partner signed that he had no checks from the partner or the company, in fact he had a check in his possession.” Advocate Akef Daoud continued: “five months later the former partner Adel presented a stolen check to the Commercial bank in Fuheis which was already alerted that three checks had been missing and the police was informed, all this is available in the court documents and the court is aware of this.” Advocate Akef Daoud noted, however, that a complaint about a stolen check was pursued in the west Amman magistrate court but the case was expunged due to the general amnesty that was signed by the King in February 2019. “As a result, the thief was let go free and the innocent businessman is now in jail,” said Akef Daoud.
AmmanNet expressed its astonishment regarding the case and expressed its continued willingness to publish any reaction that Adel Abu Assabeh has in defending his position.
The case has been transferred to the court for adjudication.
Journalist Daoud Kuttab, the founder of Ammannet, is one of the most respected journalists in the Middle East. He is the elected deputy chair of the Vienna-based International Press Institute and one of the founding members of the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism (ARIJ), and is the winner of many journalism awards.
To read the original investigation please click on
https://ammannet.net/english/us-jordanian-businessman-jail-jordan-trump…