Singapore trade official fined for drink driving offence

A senior Singapore official was fined SGD 2,000 on Thursday after he pleaded guilty to a drink driving charge, according to a media report.

Bernard Donald Miranda, chief information officer at the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and also the director of the corporate operations division at the ministry, was disqualified from driving all classes of vehicles for two years, reported The Straits Times.

The court heard that 59-year-old Miranda, a former rear-admiral with the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN), had consumed some wine over dinner at his brother's home on the evening of March 18.

He was driving home along Sembawang Road at around 9 pm when he was caught.

Miranda was later found with 43mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath. The prescribed limit is 35mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath.

In his mitigation on Thursday, he told the court that he had acted out of character, adding: ''I have done something wrong... It won't happen again.'' He also said that he has since sold his car and is not driving anymore.

Miranda was also an adjunct senior fellow with the Maritime Security Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore.

He is no longer affiliated with the school, according to the daily report.

The Straits Times cited a website, ''He (Miranda) was the Commander Task Group for three missions to the North Arabian Gulf in support of the reconstruction of Iraq; Mission Commander of the Republic of Singapore Navy's first deployment to the anti-piracy mission in the Gulf of Aden; and RSN's first Commander CTF 151, the combined force dealing with Somalia piracy in the Gulf of Aden.'' For drink driving, a first-time offender can be jailed for up to a year and fined up to SGD10,000. A repeat offender can be jailed for up to two years and fined up to SGD20,000.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)