PUTRAJAYA: Hollywood film producer Riza Aziz, who is expected to be slapped with five counts of money laundering charges, was freed from Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) custody this evening.
His lawyer, Azrul Zulkifli Stork, said Riza was freed on bail and would appear in court tomorrow to face charges.
“He is not being detained. We shall bring him to court tomorrow,” he told FMT in a text message.
Riza, the son of Rosmah Mansor, was arrested at the MACC headquarters this afternoon when he went there for questioning.
Sources said Riza would be charged as the owner of Red Granite Pictures with receiving laundered money from Good Star Ltd, a company associated with fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho.
He is said to be charged under the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act (Amlatfa) 2001 and those convicted of carrying out or aiding money-laundering risk being jailed up to 15 years and be fined a maximum RM5 million or five times the amount of the proceeds, depending on which is the higher figure.
The US Department of Justice (DoJ)claims that Red Granite, which produced the Oscar-nominated film “Wolf of Wall Street”, received money misappropriated from 1MDB.
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.
In March last year, Riza’s Red Granite agreed to pay US$60 million (RM234 million) to the US government to resolve allegations that it profited from corrupt money involving 1MDB. The payment was settled within six months. - FMT
Why pay US Government RM234 million if you are innocent. Dont you think that is stupid. Crystal clear guilty as charged.
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