Brunei hopes for transparency

Brunei hopes for transparency

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (AP): A day after Brunei's Sultan reached an out-of-court settlement with his estranged brother, observers welcomed the deal and said they hoped it lead to greater government transparency.

In a surprise move, the Sultan announced Saturday that his youngest brother Prince Jefri Bolkiah had agreed to return all the money he had taken from the Brunei Investment Agency, the country's investment arm.

The agreement ended a three-month court battle that had caused a rift in the royal family, which has ruled the tightly- controlled, oil-rich sultanate on Borneo Island for more than 600 years.

Political observers said they hoped the court case against a member of the royal family would set a precedent for scrutinizing the actions of public officials in a nation that has no parliament, no presentation of annual budgets and no disclosure of balance sheets.