Man, woman jailed for using counterfeit currency to buy gold

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation upheld a February State Security Court (SSC) ruling sentencing both a man and a women to 12 months in prison after convicting them of using counterfeit foreign currency to buy jewellery in Amman in September 2019.

The SSC declared the defendants guilty of possessing and dealing with counterfeit foreign currency on September 4, and handed each defendant a three-year prison term and ordered them to pay JD500 each in fines.

However, the court decided to reduce the sentence to one year in prison for each defendant to give them a second chance in life.

Court documents said the defendants were in possession of fake currency worth $2,000 and decided to use them in the market.

“The two decided to buy gold and jewellery with the counterfeit amount and headed to a shop in Amman and bought jewellery worth $2,000,” according to court transcripts.

The shop owner discovered that the cash amount paid to him was fake after the couple had left his shop, the court maintained.

The two were summoned by the authorities and they confessed to the charges, the court maintained.

Investigators were able to retrieve the jewellery bought by the suspects at their homes, the court maintained. 

The defence team contested the court ruling arguing that "investigators failed to provide solid evidence to implicate their clients".

However, the higher court ruled that the SSC had followed the proper proceedings when issuing the sentence and the defendants were given the appropriate punishment.

The Court of Cassation judges comprised Mohammad Ibrahim, Naji Zubi, Yassin Abdullat, Bassem Mubeidin, and Saeed Mugheid.