RIZA Aziz will have to surrender three properties in the US and UK, a movie-based artwork and monies seized from him, as well as pay a compound, as part of his money-laundering discharge deal, said the attorney-general.
Idrus Harun said under the arrangement, Putrajaya is expected to recover US$108 million (RM467 million), subject to the eventual proceeds from the sale of the assets and a deduction of the associated costs.
The amount will be credited into the 1Malaysia Development Bhd Asset Recovery Trust Account, he said in a statement today.
“This is in addition to the US$57 million that was forfeited in April 2019 from Red Granite Pictures, a company co-owned by Riza Aziz, the funds of which are traceable to 1MDB.”
He said Riza’s solicitors wrote a letter of representation to the Attorney-General’s Chambers on November 18 last year, seeking a review of all five charges against their client at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court.
The letter proposed, among others, that the stepson of former prime minister Najib Razak surrender his rights with regard to three properties seized by the US Justice Department, and that he facilitate the return of the same or its value to Putrajaya.
The properties are a bungalow in Beverly Hills, California, an apartment in New York and a townhouse in London.
The attorney-general said the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission wrote to Riza’s solicitors on April 21, instructing him to relinquish his rights, title and interest with regard to the “Metropolis Poster” – a framed, three-sheet colour lithograph poster created by German artist Heinz Schulz-Neudamm for the 1927 silent film Metropolis.
“On May 13, 2020, MACC again wrote to the solicitors, instructing Riza to transfer US$14,087,072.76 held in an escrow account at Huntington National Bank, the US, to the government of Malaysia.”
Should Riza fail to comply with the terms and conditions of the deal, the five money-laundering charges would remain, he said.
He added that the arrangement is part of the government’s ongoing efforts to recover assets related to 1MDB.
“I have been informed that negotiations with several parties in the past year, especially in relation to assets located overseas, have resulted in the successful recovery and repatriation of monies, which will reduce the government’s burden in repaying 1MDB’s debts.
“Such negotiations have been complex, requiring close cooperation with authorities abroad, and are continuing.”
On Thursday, Putrajaya agreed to drop the charges against Riza in return for the recovery of 1MDB-linked overseas assets.
As part of the agreement, the sessions court allowed an application by the prosecution for a discharge not amounting to an acquittal for Riza.
His five charges were for receiving proceeds from an unlawful activity totalling US$248 million linked to 1MDB between April 2011 and November 2012. He would have faced up to five years’ jail and a maximum RM5 million fine. – May 17, 2020.
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