Riza Aziz, the stepson of former prime minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, will be charged in court with money laundering on Friday (July 5).
It is learnt that the 49-year-old was summoned to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters on Thursday (July 4) and that investigators had arrested him. This was to enable them to finalise the process to charge him.
MACC chief Latheefa Koya confirmed that Riza was arrested at noon and was released on bail.
“He has to appear before the court tomorrow to face a charge under Amla (Anti-Money Laundering, Anti-Terrorism Financing and Proceeds of Unlawful Activities Act),” she was quoted as saying.
Riza is the son of Najib’s wife, Rosmah Mansor, from a previous marriage.
He has a background in finance and studied at the London School of Economics.
He was questioned four times by the MACC in July last year.
Reportedly, the Hollywood film producer would be charged, as the owner of Red Granite Pictures, with receiving laundered money from Good Star Ltd, a company associated with Jho Low.
Red Granite paid US$60 million (RM247 million) to the US Department of Justice (DoJ) in March last year to settle claims it produced three films using funds siphoned off 1Malaysia Development Bhd.
Earlier, sources indicated that a Najib confidant, Habibul Rahman Kadir Shah, was also expected to be charged tomorrow over RM2.5 million he received from the former prime minister for political intelligence.
Latheefa, however, denied this but declined to comment when asked if Habibul would be facing any charges soon.