Good Star Ltd that investigators say is controlled by Low Taek Jho channelled US$9 million to Riza Aziz’s Red Granite Pictures, the High Court heard today.
Prosecutors in Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s 1MDB corruption trial produced today documents showing the fund transfer via RBS Coutts Bank, Zurich in Switzerland to his stepson’s firm that was responsible for Hollywood blockbuster The Wolf of Wall Street.
Lead senior deputy public prosecutor Datuk Sri Gopal Sri Ram brought out the documents during examination-in-chief of 1MDB former chief executive Datuk Shahrol Azral Ibrahim Halmi.
However, Shahrol said he was not aware of any such transfers.
Sri Ram: In the course of the 1MDB exposé, did you come across a company by the name of Red Granite?
Shahrol: Yes, I read about Red Granite through media articles in 2015.
Sr Ram: In what connection?
Shahrol: Red Granite was the producer of the film Wolf of Wall Street that used money allegedly siphoned from 1MDB.
Sri Ram then produced a document showing Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz, better known as Riza Aziz, as the sole registered director for Red Granite.
He then asked the witness if he knew of Riza’s relations to Najib.
Shahrol: He is Najib’s stepson.
In his opening statement for the trial, Sri Ram stated that Good Star Ltd is under the control of fugitive financier Low or Jho Low.
The US$9 million transferred to Red Granite corresponds with one of the money laundering charges against Riza, who is facing five charges for laundering a total of US$248.17 million belonging to 1MDB, between April 12, 2011, and Nov 14, 2012.