KUALA LUMPUR, July 5 — Riza Aziz had previously decided to have his film production firm Red Granite Pictures settle with the US Department of Justice (DoJ) with a sum of US$60 million instead of being embroiled in a long and costly trial in the US, his stepfather Datuk Seri Najib Razak claimed today.
Najib sought to explain why Riza’s company had to settle with the DoJ over the latter’s civil forfeiture lawsuit to recover money from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal, noting that the stepson’s firm’s funds were alleged to be linked to 1MDB.
“Why have to pay US$60 million to DoJ for the settlement agreement for the civil forfeiture lawsuit to be dropped? Because under US law, profits generated from funds with sources alleged to be illegal are also considered as illegal funds.
“DoJ claims part of the funds received from investors for several films include investors that are related to funds received from 1MDB.
“Therefore, Riza is of the opinion that it is better to resolve this civil case since the time taken for the case’s hearing is long and the legal fees in the US is also very high,” the former prime minister wrote in a Facebook post today.
DoJ filed a civil asset forfeiture action against Red Granite in July 2016 as part of broader efforts to recoup more than US$1 billion allegedly embezzled from 1MDB.
Riza’s Red Granite in March 2018 agreed to pay US$60 million (RM234 million) to the US government to resolve allegations that it profited from corrupt money involving 1MDB, with the payment settled within six months.
Najib’s assertion comes hours after his stepson Riza was charged in Kuala Lumpur with five counts of money-laundering by his alleged receiving of US$248 million via accounts belonging to Red Granite Productions Inc and Red Granite Capital Ltd, with the funds allegedly originating from misappropriated money from the Malaysian government’s 1MDB.
Earlier today, Najib had in a lengthy Facebook post sought to defend himself and Riza following the criminal charges pressed against the stepson.
Among other things, Najib highlighted that Riza does not face criminal charges in the US and only faced a civil forfeiture action there that was dropped after the US$60 million was paid.
Najib also asserted his purported lack of full knowledge of what Riza was doing in the US.
“Riza had long continued his career abroad and at that time I was never involved or had in-depth knowledge about his career or business,” he claimed without specifying the period mentioned, adding that he understood several years ago that Riza had founded film producing firm Red Granites.
Najib cited several films produced by Riza, zeroing in on the Wolf of Wall Street which he insisted was not a pornographic film and that it only had adult film elements.
“It has to be remembered that Riza is a film producer not a film director. It is a film director that determines a film’s content,” Najib said.
Najib described the five money-laundering charges against Riza today as involving “foreign investors” and overseas transactions through foreign banks.
The “foreign investors” referred by Najib are actually two companies widely named as being part of the 1MDB scandal — Good Star Limited and Aabar Investments PJS Limited.
“Not one transaction happened in Malaysia,” Najib said.
But while the charges against Riza relate to transactions occuring outside of Malaysia, local laws against money-laundering allow charges to be brought in Malaysian courts.
Under Section 82(1)(e) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 (AMLATFA), any offence under the law that is committed by any person outside of Malaysia against property belonging to Malaysia’s federal government or state governments, including Malaysian diplomatic or consular premises “may be dealt with as if it had been committed at any place within Malaysia”.
Deputy public prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib had today also explained that the civil settlement with the US DoJ does not clear Riza of criminal charges.
