KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on Friday (Jul 5) charged the Hollywood producer stepson of former Prime Minister Najib Razak with money laundering. The Government alleged he misappropriated US$248 million linked to state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Riza Aziz, a co-founder of Hollywood production firm Red Granite Pictures that was behind the Oscar-nominated film ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’, was charged with five counts of money laundering. Riza, who was arrested on Thursday, pleaded not guilty to all the charges. Each charge carries a financial penalty of up to RM5 million (US$1.21 million), a maximum jail term of five years, or both.
The court granted Riza bail at RM1 million and asked him to surrender his passports. After unexpectedly losing an election to Dr Mahathir Mohamad in May last year, Najib has been slapped with a series of corruption charges, mostly tied to losses at now-defunct 1MDB. Najib, who founded 1MDB in 2009, faces 42 criminal charges related to huge losses at the fund and other state entities. He has pleaded not guilty. (Agencies)
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