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.