Brothers Grim: The Scandal In Brunei

It's a fairy tale from the Asian crisis. Once upon a time, a fabulously wealthy Sultan watched his neighbors fall on hard times. So the rich man gladly offered to help them by dipping into his vast wealth. But when the Sultan reached into his coffers, much of his gold was gone. To his horror, so was his brother, the prince.

That's the Brothers Grimm version of current events in Brunei, the tiny country nestled on the northern shore of Borneo. Thanks to the oil wealth of his kingdom, the Sultan of Brunei is a multibillionaire. But now one of his brothers, Prince Jefri, is suspected of absconding with billions of dollars from the treasury. The scandal runs the risk of destabilizing the local economy and wreaking more havoc on the already battered economies of Southeast Asia.