Paramount Pictures
Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak has been arrested by anti-corruption investigators and will be charged over his alleged role in the multi-billion-dollar embezzlement of a state investment fund linked to the financing of 2013 Hollywood hit The Wolf Of Wall Street.
A government task force said Najibs arrest was connected to a suspicious multi-million-dollar transfer into his bank account from SRC International, a former subsidiary of the fund known as 1MDB.
The news of Razaks arrest comes on the same day his stepson Riza Aziz, founder and CEO of The Wolf Of Wall Street producer Red Granite, was also questioned by the same Malaysian authorities.
1MDB is the fund U.S. investigators have alleged was used to siphon hundreds of millions of dollars into private investments for Najib and his family including the funding of the Martin Scorsese hit and other films on the Red Granite slate. Following the stateside investigation, Red Granite earlier this year agreed to pay back $60M to the U.S. government but has denied any intentional wrongdoing.
Najibs arrest comes two months after his coalitions stunning rejection by voters in the countrys general election. The politician had been part of a ruling elite in Malaysia which had governed the country since 1957 and had managed to silence multiple corruption accusations. His successor as prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, promised to bring Najib to justice. Red Granite was unavailable for comment.
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