MTI Chief Information Officer Charged for Drink Driving; Was Previously a Rear-Admiral With the Navy

Drinking and driving truly never goes well. It’s like a horrible combination of Coca Cola and Mentos, or durian and alcohol—bound to end in disaster.

You either get caught by the police or you somehow get into an accident. And given the state of a drunk driver, it’s not hard to see why they would not be able to outrun (or rather, outdrive) the long arms of the law.

MTI Chief Information Officer Charged for Drink Driving; Was Previously a Rear-Admiral With the Navy

According to The Straits Times, a chief information officer from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) appeared in court on Thursday (17 Jun) on a drink driving charge.

The 59-year-old is also the director of the corporate operations division at the ministry.

Mr Bernard Donald Miranda was happily cruising along Sembawang Road at around 9:00pm on 18 March 2021, drunk, of course.

It was reported that he had not less than 43mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath, above the prescribed limit of 35mcg of alcohol in 100ml of breath.

Currently, his case is adjourned to 15 July and his bail is set at S$10,000.

MTI was unable to comment on the case as it is ongoing.

This isn’t the first time someone with a prominent background has been found breaking the law. Read how actor Shane Pow was charged with drink driving, for a second time.

Mr Miranda was initially a rear-admiral with the Republic of Singapore Navy (RSN) and retired in 2011 after serving for 32 years. He later became an adjunct senior fellow with the Maritime Security Programme at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies.

The website highlighted his notable contributions to the navy on anti-piracy missions in ensuring global security.

“He 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.”

In addition, the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) wrote in a Facebook post how he was most “fondly remembered as RSN’s first Commander Combined Task Force 151 (CTF 151)” and was “usually described as ‘always fearless, generous and honest’.”

For drink driving, a first-time offender could be jailed for up to a year and fined up to S$10,000 while a repeat offender could be jailed for up to two years and fined up to S$20,000.

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