Singapore - Brunei's national investment firm is seeking an order to force Prince Jefri Bolkiah to turn over the title to an unoccupied Singapore mansion, documents filed with the Supreme Court said on Friday.

The prince, the younger brother of Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, is also involved in legal battles with the Brunei Investment Agency (BIA) over assets in London and New York.

In the quest for the Nassim Road mansion, worth about 120 million Singapore dollars (90 million US dollars), the BIA is represented by Senior Counsel Vinodh Coomaraswamy, The Straits Times said.

A Singapore court order is required for the BIA to be registered as the legal owner of the named Arwaa mansion, believed to have been used by Prince Jefri up to the year
2000.

Represented by lawyer George Pereira, the 53-year-old prince is contesting the BIA's move.

A hearing has been set for October.

Although unoccupied, the mansion is guarded by private security staff, the newspaper said, and cleaners come regularly.

Prince Jefri is expected to argue that the mansion was excluded, and therefore separate, from matters heard before the Brunei courts as part of enforcement proceeding that started in 2004.

Currently living in France, international tussles are not new to the prince.

London's High Court issued an arrest warrant for the prince after he failed to show up earlier this month to answer charges that he had violated a court order to turn over 3 billion pounds (5.8 billion US dollars) to the Brunei government.

In New York, a court ordered in March that he hand over ownership of the New York Palace Hotel to the Brunei government. The prince is reportedly disputing the order.

Legal action started in Brunei in 2004 after billions of dollars were alleged to have gone missing while Prince Jefri was the finance minister of the oil-rich sultanate.

The mansion in Singapore was reportedly used by the price up to 2000 and believed to have housed valuable artworks, the newspaper said. (dpa)