Jordan's prosecutor general has started an investigation into alleged financial irregularities at the main charity of the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, officials said on Wednesday.
A decision to close the charity would mark the toughest crackdown on the movement, the kingdom's largest opposition group, since the government got tough over the Muslim Brotherhood's stance against a peace treaty with Israel in 1994. Officials allege the charity, which is scrutinised by official auditors, finances the political activities of the Muslim Brotherhood.
"The council of ministers ordered the prosecutor to look into the report compiled by government auditors into the violations of the Islamic Centre Charity," an official told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Under head of state King Abdullah II bin Hussein, Jordan is a pro-Western, moderate Arab state. It is a relatively open, secular society aspiring to be a modern business hub.
The charity, which runs a countrywide network of welfare centres with more than a billion dollars worth of assets, dispenses millions of dollars of aid to poor Jordanians that officials say is behind the popular appeal of the Islamists.