A local male, Muhammad Ali Iskandar bin Mustapha (the “Defendant”) aged 45 years, has pleaded guilty to five (5) offences with a further two (2) offences to be taken into account under section 12B of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Chapter 131.
Sometime in August 2023, a person with suspected involvement in the misuse of drugs had been arrested by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and it was discovered that the arrested person was in possession of confidential information pertaining to NCB operations obtained from the Defendant, who was subsequently arrested by the NCB and eventually referred to the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for investigation.
Investigations carried out by the ACB confirmed that the Defendant who at the relevant time was employed as an Assistant Narcotics Officer II at the NCB was in a position with access to confidential information pertaining to operations and arrests conducted by the NCB, and that the Defendant had misused his position to disclose such information on seven (7) occasions sometime between June 2023 to August 2023 to the person arrested by NCB who was also discovered to have been supplying drugs to the Defendant. The Defendant had released such information with the intent of being able to purchase drugs for himself at a cheaper rate and to prevent his supplier from being arrested by the NCB.
The Defendant had initially pleaded not guilty on 19th March 2024 but had then opted to enter a guilty plea on 26th December 2024 before the Honorable Senior Magistrate Hajah Azrimah binti Haji Abdul Rahman, to charges of misconduct under section 12B of the Prevention of Corruption Act. On 30th December 2024, the Defendant as represented by Defence Counsel, Sheikh Noordin bin Sheikh Mohammad fully admitted to the facts put forth by the Deputy Public Prosecutor, Siti Khalillah binti Haji Hussin.
The Defendant is currently remanded in Maraburong Prison pending sentencing on 6th January 2025.
The ACB would like to remind the public including public servants serving under the Government of His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam, not to abuse their position or powers entrusted to them and not to be involved in corruption as this is a serious offence and any person convicted will be liable to a fine of $30,000 and imprisonment for 7 years.
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