LAW enforcement officers are more exposed to corruption as they are often tasked with handling civil affairs throughout the nation as part of the daily task of law enforcement agencies, said an official from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) yesterday.

ACB's Head of Community Relations Pg Imran Pg Hj Matarsad said this to 20 officers from the Royal Brunei Police Force (RBPF) yesterday during a talk at the Police Training Centre at the Police Headquarters in Gadong.

"Police (officers), for instance, are one of those who face the public at all times," he said in an interview with The Brunei Times.

He explained that some members of the public might resort to offering rewards in return for being released by police officers when caught committing an offence.

"Any sort of offerings, be it money, Easi cards (mobile phone prepaid cards) or in some bad cases, sex, are still considered as corruption," Pg Imran said.

He also told Muslim civil servants to fortify their iman (faith in Islam) and to have integrity in carrying out their roles and responsibilities at their workplace as it is one of the ways to avoid from getting lured into corruption.

"Without iman, you can never be strong when facing this kind of test," he explained, relating that quite a number of corruption cases in Brunei were committed by Muslims.

"This is still a question mark to us. Why are our own people doing this? Do they not have iman? Do they not think of Allah (SWT)?" Pg Imran asked rhetorically.

In light of this, Pg Imran said that ACB plans to distribute books and articles on corruption to mosques nationwide in the month of Ramadhan this year in hopes of raising awareness among the Muslim community.

The books, produced by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), have been distributed to various government agencies, he added.

During the corruption talk organised by the bureau, Pg Imran gave knowledge and information on the different types of corruption, sharing the outcomes of several corruption cases as well as criminal sentences imposed on government servants who commit corruption whilst on duty under the Anti-Corruption Act.

The briefing was part of the ACB's 2010-2014 strategic plan and aimed at raising awareness on the seriousness of committing corruption.

The Brunei Times