Ismail Damit

Pengiran Ismail bin Pengiran Damit is a Bruneian nobleman, architect and politician whom designed the Istana Nurul Iman, and former Minister of Development (MOD) from 1986 to 2001. Additionally, he is also the former President of the Brunei Amateur Football Association (BAFA), and the Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Foundation (YSHHB). The former Minister of Development was involved in a historic corruption trial came which sentenced him to seven years in prison after finding him guilty of 11 corruption counts.

Career
Pengiran Ismail held the position of Istana Project Supervisor (IPS) beginning in the late 1970s under the direction of His Majesty the Sultan. In these roles, he was in charge of the IPS office, the Public Works Department, and the Housing Development Department. This meant having final say over all state-funded public works and housing initiatives' design, hiring of contractors, and execution. He was in charge of overseeing government initiatives that may get funding from sources other than the regular budget. The design of Istana Nurul Iman was created by Pengiran Ismail.

Pengiran Ismail began serving as Brunei's Minister of Development in 1986. Although the Fifth National Development Plan (NDP 5, 1986–1990) included a policy on forest conservation and protection, efforts to adequately address environmental issues were only brought to light by a number of events that happened starting in 1991. One of these actions was the planning of a two-day conference in March 1991 on "Current Practices on Environment in Brunei." In his introductory remarks at the seminar, he emphasized the need for an impact assessment to determine the viability of any development project.

The Bukit Beruang Middle School was officially renamed Sayyidina 'Othman Middle School on 30 July 1996, with the help of him. On 16 April 1999, the ASEAN Environment Ministers gathered in Bandar Seri Begawan, to discuss the execution of the ASEAN Regional Haze Action Plan. The ASOEN Haze Technical Task Force's 12th Meeting, held on 15 April 1999, came before the Ministerial Meeting. Pengiran Ismail presided over the meeting. Following Pengiran Ismail's dismissal on 28 May 2001, Dato Ahmad Jumat, the deputy minister of education, was named acting minister of development on that same day, with no explanation given.

Corruption
Former Chief justice Dato Mohamed Saied presided over the former minister's trial beginning on 14 February 2005. The trial lasted 205 days till the Chief Justice resigned due to illness in February 2009. 28 witnesses testified during the 40-day fresh trial, which started on 28 September 2009 and ended on 26 November. It was one of the longest trials in Brunei Darussalam's legal history is now underway and the case was the High Court of Brunei's first ever corruption trial.

Background
On 17 February 2010 Judicial commissioner Gareth Lugar-Mawson found the appellant guilty on 8 counts of accepting bribes as a public worker under section 165 of the Penal Code, chapter 22, and three counts of receiving gratifications in violation of section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, chapter 131. The defendant received a cumulative sentence of 7 years in jail as well as financial restrictions. The defendant challenges both his convictions and punishments on appeal. He exercised substantial influence and power while in office.

The second defendant (D2), Wong Tim Kai, or the business he managed, offered the rewards and valuable items that the appellant accepted. D2 has been TED Sendirian Berhad's managing director and significant shareholder since 1979. In Brunei TED was a significant building and engineering contractor who completed various projects for the Bruneian government. D2 was found guilty of the related offences of offering gratifications and priceless items even though he did not show up for the trial. According to the judge's findings, the appellant accepted D2's gifts and valuables from him between July 1992 and April 1999. In the same period, from 28 November 1992 to 1 May 2000, TED received 42 government contracts worth a total of B$327,013,506.00. Following His Majesty the Sultan's request for information, the appellant outlined these contracts (including those mentioned in Charges 1 through 3) in a letter to him on 29 July 1999 (ex P354).

The Appeal
The fact that the appellant was an agent for a principal was proven by demonstrating that he was a public servant, and vice versa, was acknowledged, or at least it was not questioned, at least in all situations where he was serving as Minister of Development. The appellant, however, countered that he was neither a government agent nor a public servant while serving as the Istana Project Supervisor. For a variety of reasons, that submission lacks substance. First, in addition to signing all contracts as the Istana Project Supervisor, he also did so as the Minister of Development. Second, every single one of these contracts was a typical Government deal. Thirdly, all of them received money from government funding, either directly or indirectly. Fourth, as the project manager for the Istana, he received guidance directly from His Majesty, the Executive Government. Because of the expansive meaning of "public servant" in section 21 of the Penal Code, he qualified as a public servant under section 165 of that Code and was, thus, directly an agent of the Government for the purposes of section 6(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Ahmad Basuni, the defense attorney, declared that his client intended to appeal the ruling and asked that the prison term be postponed until the appeal was heard. The former minister will now start serving his term at Jerudong Prison as Judge Lugar-Mawson rejected the motion.

Order of Costs
The court believe that the overall sentence of 7 years in prison was not excessive given that the appellant had committed a number of offenses over a period of years that involved extremely serious breaches of the trust placed in him as a government minister and involved significant amounts of public funds. These offenses also resulted in his monetary enrichment to the tune of B$4,219,214.60. Any public employee who is tempted to use his position for personal benefit should use it as an example. When it was given, the whole sentence wasn't obviously excessive or inappropriate in concept. The judgment mandated that the appellant must pay $4,219,242.60 in restitution for the benefits obtained within 100 days or risk serving a concurrent 12-month sentence in jail.

Titles
Ahmad holds the title of Yang Amat Mulia (The Most Noble) Pehin Indera Wijaya, making him a member of cheteria.

Honours
Ahmad has earned the following honours;
 * BRU Order of Loyalty to the State of Brunei.svg Order of Setia Negara Brunei First Class (PSNB) – Dato Seri Setia
 * BRU Order of the Crown of Brunei.svg Order of Seri Paduka Mahkota Brunei First Class (SPMB) – Dato Seri Paduka
 * BRU_Order_of_Merit_of_Brunei.svg Order of Paduka Seri Laila Jasa Second Class (DSLJ) – Dato Seri Laila Jasa
 * Pingat Jasa Kiebaktian (PJK).gif Meritorious Service Medal (PJK)
 * Long_Service_Medal_(PKL).jpg Long Service Medal (PKL)