Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily on July 5, 2018

PUTRAJAYA: Riza Aziz, the stepson of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and producer of the Oscar-nominated The Wolf of Wall Street movie, left the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters yesterday after six hours of questioning in connection will the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) global financial scandal.

Ignoring reporters, Riza exited the MACC building slightly after 9pm, and left in a black Audi car. He was accompanied by his lawyer Datuk K Kumaraendran and one other party. He is scheduled to return for further questioning at 10.30am today. He spent almost nine hours with the MACC on Tuesday, making it a total of 15 hours over the past two days.

Riza was also present at the Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday, where Najib was charged with three counts of criminal breach of trust and one count of abuse of power relating to the RM42 million belonging to SRC International Sdn Bhd, a former subsidiary of 1MDB.

The MACC is believed to have questioned Riza over allegations that his firm, Red Granite Pictures Inc, had used 1MDB funds to produce the US$100 million The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio. In March, Red Granite Pictures, which also produced  other Hollywood films, agreed to pay US$60 million to the US Department of Justice (DoJ) to settle a lawsuit alleging its use of illicit funds to make the movies. The DoJ has also embarked on its biggest-ever Kleptocracy Asset Recovery Initiative to claim assets worth US$4.5 billion allegedly embezzled from 1MDB between 2009 and 2014 and laundered globally.

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