Money laundering charges dropped against ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ producer

Human Rights Watch slams move as ‘triumph for impunity and corruption’

Riza Aziz arrives for a court appearance at Duta court in Kuala Lumpur on 5 July 2019. (MOHD RASFAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Malaysian prosecutors have dropped money laundering charges against a producer on The Wolf of Wall Street.

Riza Aziz, the stepson of ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak, reached a settlement with the government and was discharged on Thursday without being formally acquitted, meaning that prosecutors can revive the charge.

The anti-graft agency said in a statement that the government will recover $107.3m of overseas assets involved in the case — about 43% of the $248m Aziz was accused of having laundered from the 1MDB state investment fund. Riza is also required to pay an unspecified fine.

The move was slammed by Human Rights Watch on Friday as a “triumph for impunity and corruption”. Former Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said he was worried the decision could set a precedent in graft cases in which “thieves will be let off if they return the stolen money”.

Riza was the third person in his family to be charged last year over the 1MDB graft scandal that helped Mahathir’s alliance oust Najib’s long-ruling government in May 2018 elections. Both Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor face multiple graft charges, and are currently on trial. Najib says his family was targeted by Mahathir’s government as political vengeance.

Riza’s discharge came under current Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin’s government, which came into power in March amid political manoeuvring and Mahathir’s resignation. The new government includes Najib’s party, which has several other leaders also facing graft charges.

“Riza Aziz walking free is a triumph for impunity and corruption, and running roughshod over the rights and interests of the Malaysian people,” said Phil Robertson, Human Rights Watch’s deputy Asia director.

“I think letting Riza Aziz go is all about gauging the public’s reaction for potential next steps that could involve Najib. No one should forget that putting a former Malaysian PM on trial was unbelievable to start with and this was never going to be an easy road,” Robertson said.

Mahathir, a two-time prime minister, quit in February to protest his ally Muhyiddin’s move to pull their party out of the ruling alliance and form a Malay-majority government with Najib’s party and several others.

Mahathir, 94, said on Friday that he couldn’t accept the prosecutor’s settlement with Riza.

“I am worried because there are many other thieves in this country,” he said. “There is a possibility that in the future, the big criminals that stole a lot of money will be let off if they return the money.”

Najib set up the 1MDB fund to finance development in Malaysia when he took office in 2009, but it accumulated billions in debts and US investigators allege at least $4.5bn were stolen from the fund and laundered by Najib’s associates.

Prosecutors last year alleged that $248m misappropriated from 1MDB were channelled into bank accounts of Riza’s company, Red Granite Pictures Inc, which produced films including the Martin-Scorsese-directed film The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

US investigators alleged Red Granite used money stolen from 1MDB to finance Hollywood films. Red Granite has paid the US government $60m to settle claims it benefited from the 1MDB scandal, and the US returned the money to Malaysia.

The Associated Press contributed to this story