| Hakim Hayat |
A LOCAL couple holding senior positions in the country’s judicial system was arrested by the Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) yesterday as part of investigations into a corruption case involving large sums of money they allegedly misappropriated from the court system.
Senior Magistrate at the Magistrate’s Court Haji Nabil Daraina bin Pehin Udana Khatib Dato Paduka Seri Setia Ustaz Haji Awang Badaruddin and his wife Senior Registrar at the Supreme Court Ramzidah binti Pehin Datu Kesuma Diraja Colonel (Rtd) Haji Abdul Rahman were suspended from their respective posts following investigations jointly led by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the RBPF and the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) earlier this year.
Police said the couple is being investigated for Criminal Breach of Trust by a Government Officer under Section 409 of the Penal Code, Chapter 22 and also Money Laundering under Section 3 of the Criminal Asset Recovery Order 2012.
Haji Nabil Daraina and Ramzidah are accused of siphoning-off money collected from bankruptcy cases at the Bankruptcy Office of the Supreme Court and are suspected to have spent it for their personal use, including for the purchase of high-value assets such as luxury cars that were earlier confiscated during the initial course of the investigation.
Police said they will divulge to the public any developments on the case in the near future.
In June this year, the High Court had dismissed a petition filed by the couple seeking temporary release of their passports that were impounded, to visit their daughter in London who was apparently a victim of a robbery.
However, both have not been formally charged in court.
