Riza Aziz to return for 4th day of questioning
PUTRAJAYA: Former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s stepson, Riza Aziz, is facing his fourth day of questioning at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters today.
The 48-year-old movie producer and co-founder of Los Angeles-based film production company Red Granite Pictures arrived at the MACC headquarters here at 11.10am yesterday to continue giving his statement regarding the 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) scandal.
He was accompanied by his lawyer, Datuk K. Kumaraendran.
Riza had been called in to give his statement since Tuesday, where he spent nine hours at the headquarters. On Wednesday, he spent six hours in the building.
Yesterday’s session ended at 6.45pm, but sources said Riza would have to come back again today at 10.30am.
Riza had been alleged to have siphoned off money from 1MDB to finance films.
The United States Department of Justice (DoJ) had claimed that Riza’s company, which produced the Oscar-nominated The Wolf of Wall Street, had received money misappropriated from 1MDB. Riza denied the claim.
However, Red Granite Pictures in March agreed to pay US$60 million (RM234 million) to the US government to resolve allegations that it profited from corrupt money involving 1MDB, according to a report.
MACC had called in several people since May to assist investigations into the scandal, including Najib and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.
The 1MDB Special Task Force was reported to have frozen 408 accounts, including Umno accounts, with a total of RM1.1 billion to assist in its probe into allegations that these accounts had received 1MDB funding.