Temburong - The trial of Abdul Rasid bin Hj Libut, a 27- year-old Aziz Latif & Company road tanker driver accused of stealing 12,000 litres of diesel belonging to either Brunei Shell Petroleum or Belingus Power Station, Temburong saw a fellow driver and a Raven Guard Security staff member testify in court yesterday.

Ali, a fellow driver, gave evidence on the procedural events of a trip in a day's work of tanker drivers transporting fuel throughout the country, including hauling from the Oil Refinery in Seria as well as the Belait Surita tanker vessel at the Temburong Wharf.

Ali said in court that whoever reaches first the Malaysian Immigration post on the way to Temburong will have to wait for the other tankers of the convoy. The same would happen before a tanker could board the Sungai Pendaruan ferry.

On the matter of the time shift entries book, Ali stated that he would sometimes forget to sign in and even forget to correct mistakes entered on the time shift record book.

The time shift entries book would then be handed over to an afternoon shift driver, who would in turn hand it over to the supervisor at the Aziz Latif & Company office.

Mistakes would normally have been corrected by correcting the information and signing initials on the corrections.

A Raven Guard Security staff member was also quizzed by both the prosecution and the defendant.

According to one of security personnel who was on duty on that day, named Amir, there were no new procedures at his time of duty on June 7, 2012. Seals given by Brunei Shell Marketing ensure oil in the road tankers is intact, the seals could not be tampered with unless they are damaged, torn or broken.

Amir was manning Gate 2 for eight hours from 10pm to 6am between June 6 and 7, 2012 at the Oil Refinery in Seria.

All Raven Guard Security personnel were tasked to monitor the entries and exits of tankers to and from the refinery in Seria. It is also their task to check the seals on the tankers. If the seals were found to have been tampered with, the driver would be held back from exiting the refinery and asked to wait at the gantry.

The tampering would be reported to the control room and the Brunei Shell Marketing office would be immediately informed.

At the gantry, everyone should wear fire resistant clothing or coveralls but according to evidence in court, the coveralls were only available after June 7, 2012.

This showed that no one would have been able to inspect seals at the gantry as no fire resistant coveralls were made available to the Raven Guard Security personnel.

Amir told the court that he only received and wore the coveralls while on duty on August 1, 2012. On the distribution of the coveralls, Amir could not confirm reports as he was not on duty during the distribution of the coveralls.

Evidence suggested that Raven Guard Security personnel would not have been able to inspect tankers' seals, which were leaving the Oil Refinery in Seria before June 7, 2012.

Senior Magistrate Hj Nabil Daraina PD Hj Badaruddin fixed the case for further hearing on January 9, 2013.

The defendant's passport was ordered released by December 6, 2012 for the defendant to attend a wedding in Labuan, Malaysia with an additional bail condition of one more local surety added to his current bail conditions.

The defendant will have to come back by December 17, 2012 and return his passport to the investigating officer of the case.

The defendant is released on court bail of B$5,000 or one local surety, and, upon release of his passport an additional $2,000 or one local surety.

DPP Karen Tan prosecuted the case.

--Courtesy of Borneo Bulletin