US embassy cable - 05AMMAN2328

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 002328 
 
SIPDIS 
 
TREASURY FOR GLASER/ZARATE 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 03/04/2015 
TAGS: EFIN, KTFN, ETTC, PGOV, JO 
SUBJECT: AML LAW DEFERRED 
 
REF: AMMAN 1837 
 
Classified By: CDA Christopher Henzel for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d) 
 
1. (U) In a procedural  vote March 20, the Chamber of 
Deputies, Jordan's lower house of Parliament, declined to 
give "urgent" status to the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) bill 
approved by the GOJ Cabinet on March 5 (reftel).  After 
hearing a defense of the bill's importance from Justice 
Minister Salah al-Bashir, who presented it as a measure that 
would "enhance the competitiveness of Jordan's banking 
sector" by ensuring that it met international standards, the 
deputies voted to refer the bill, without a date for a final 
vote, to a joint committee drawn from the Legal and Finance 
and Economic Committees. 
 
2. (C) Bashir told CDA March 20 that the vote would postpone 
a measure he regards as essential to protecting Jordan's 
reputation.  Chamber of Deputies Finance and Economic 
Committee Chairman Hisham Dabbas told CDA the same day he was 
confident the AML bill would pass, but it would now be 
delayed until the extraordinary session of Parliament that he 
expects in June 
 
3. (C) COMMENT: The Chamber's decision to strip the AML bill 
of its status as an "urgent" measure is a substantial 
setback.  The many other bills that are currently under 
consideration by the Chamber makes it unlikely that the newly 
established joint committee tasked with reviewing the bill 
will present its report on the AML bill (setting the stage 
for a vote) before the end of the current session on March 
31.  Our understanding is that the bill can indeed be 
considered and approved during an extraordinary session of 
Parliament, but only if it is listed in the royal decree 
issued by the King setting the agenda for such a session. 
Otherwise, the bill would be deferred until the next ordinary 
session, which will begin in the Autumn/Winter of 2005.  Post 
will continue to press the GOJ to move this bill through 
Parliament. 
HENZEL