(AFP) – Feb 11, 2011

AMMAN — The royal court has strongly denied an AFP report in which it is stated that major tribes, the bedrock of Jordan's regime, have accused Queen Rania of corruption.

A palace statement condemned "in the strongest possible terms, the completely erroneous and defamatory statements about Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan" contained in the February 9 report.

The report, it added, "contains serious allegations against Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah and the Yassin family in which there is no truth whatsoever."

The AFP report quoted a joint statement issued by "36 tribal leaders" earlier in the week in which they sharply criticised the queen.

"We call on the king to return to the treasury land and farms given to the Yassin family (of the queen). The land belongs to the Jordanian people," the statement read in part.

The royal court said the 36 people who signed the statement "are not leaders of the tribes to which they belong, and they do not represent the tens of thousands of people from these proud Jordanian tribes."

The palace statement added: "Amongst several other false allegations, the report claims that land and farms belonging to the Jordanian people were given to the Yassin family."

It said a check with the land registry would have shown the allegations to be unsubstantiated.

It also rejected a reference in the statement by the 36 signatories to unconfirmed reports that the queen's office had helped 78,000 Palestinians obtain Jordanian nationality between 2005 and 2010.

"This is a false accusation," the royal palace statement said. "These rumours should have been checked with the Ministry of Interior, whose official records would have proven they are totally baseless."

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