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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian prosecutors on Thursday (May 14) dropped the money laundering charges related to the 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal against one of the producers of Hollywood hit The Wolf of Wall Street after it agreed to a deal with the government.
Riza Aziz, who is also the stepson of the country’s disgraced former leader Najib Razak, was arrested in July for allegedly receiving nearly $ 250 million from Malaysia’s sovereign wealth fund 1MDB.
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READ: “Rosmah wasn’t scolding me”: Najib in leaked audio clips related to the 1MDB scandal
Billions of dollars were looted from the fund and spent on everything from a yacht to expensive art in a major fraud that spread across the globe, allegedly involving Najib and his cronies.
But a judge agreed to give Riza a discharge that does not amount to an acquittal, meaning the charges have been dropped, after he agreed to a deal with the government, prosecutor Ahmad Akram Gharib told AFP.
Ahmad declined to disclose the amount, but reports say it amounted to several million ringgit.
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Riza had been accused of receiving $ 248.17 million in 2011 and 2012 in illegal earnings from 1MDB.
READ: Financial runaway Jho Low denies being ‘mastermind’ behind 1MDB
The money was sent to bank accounts with Hollywood producer Red Granite Pictures, which Riza co-founded.
In addition to The Wolf of Wall Street, which was about a major financial scam and starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Red Granite also produced the Jim Carrey movie Dumb and Dumber To and Daddy’s Home.
Najib was ousted in 2018 in large part due to public anger at the 1MDB scandal, and has since been tried for gigantic fraud. He denies doing anything wrong.
The alliance that ousted Najib, led by 94-year-old Mahathir Mohamad, reopened investigations into the scandal and began to recover the looted money.
READ: USA USA Returns $ 300 million of 1MDB funds to Malaysia
But the Mahathir government itself lost power earlier this year and was replaced by an administration that includes the Najib party, raising questions about whether the criminal proceedings related to the controversy will continue.
