Wednesday, October 24, 2007

Mother of All Corruption

The Sultan of Brunei, who is embroiled in the most expensive family feud in legal history, secretly transferred $US8 billion ($A9 billion) of state money into his personal bank account.

The money, which exceeds Brunei's entire annual gross domestic product, was paid in over four years.

It funded an extraordinarily lavish lifestyle, which included spending $100,000 on guards for the exotic bird cages at his palace.

The Sultan is suing his younger brother, Prince Jefri, whom he accuses of embezzling $8 billion during the 13 years that he was finance minister of the oil-and-gas-rich state...

The Sultan is an absolute monarch and controls every aspect of life there. The papers supplied by Freshfields, the London lawyers who act for the Brunei Investment Authority, which reports to the Sultan, include a 50-page list of monetary gifts to hundreds of those lucky enough to be the beneficiaries of the Sultan's largesse.

The total bill was $40 billion.

The gifts included $2,570,050 for masseuses and acupuncturists; $14,955,000 for a house supervisor in Singapore and $13,500,000 for a second house supervisor; $2,580,350 for a badminton coach; $12,000,000 for each of his five public relations officers listed as Yoya, Prall, Vicky, Shelly and Janet.

-Feuding sultan's secret billions exposed

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