May 24,2012
AMMAN -- The Libyan government has not followed through on a pledge to pay back part of its outstanding debt to the Kingdom's hotels for accommodating Libyan citizens, a Jordan Hotels Association (JHA) official said on Thursday.
JHA Director Yasar Majali told The Jordan Times that although the Libyan government was supposed to transfer part of its outstanding dues on Wednesday, "we have not received anything and they do not even respond to our calls".
The current dues owed to hotels across the Kingdom by the Libyan government stand at JD50 million, according to Majali, who noted that there are currently 8,000 Libyans in the Kingdom's hotels and hotel apartments.
In response, Ali Bin Jalil, head of the Libyan medical committee in Jordan, said: "We were informed by our government not to pay before auditing the bills."
"We will definitely pay the hotels accommodating Libyans, but the payment is postponed until a Libyan committee affiliated with our Cabinet finishes the auditing process," Bin Jalil told The Jordan Times over the phone.
He noted that more than 50,000 Libyans had come to Jordan for medical treatment since last September.
"Previously, we used to pay every two weeks without seeing the bills, but there was some exaggeration in these bills and we had to review the process of paying back the outstanding debts," Bin Jalil claimed.
During a visit to Jordan earlier this month, Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Omar Abdul Karim said the Libyan authorities would soon pay the Kingdom's hotels part of their outstanding dues.
In a statement sent to The Jordan Times at that time, Abdul Karim said JD40 million had already been transferred to Jordan and would be allocated to the Kingdom's hotels.
© Jordan Times 2012
