Our funding legit, Red Granite says again
(Malaysiakini) – Red Granite Pictures, the Hollywood production house linked to the 1MDB saga, has reiterated that all its funding is legitimate.
Red Granite is co-owned by Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak’s stepson Riza Aziz.
“Red Granite has received hundreds of millions of dollars in financing over the last six years from a variety of sources, including top-tier US commercial and investment banks,” the firm told Bloomberg.
“To its knowledge, none of the funding received by Red Granite was in any way irregular or illegitimate.”
This comes after the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported that investigators believe that some of 1MDB’s funds were transferred to Red Granite, via a loan from British Virgin Island-registered firm Aabar Investment PJS Ltd.
The funds were used to produce Hollywood blockbuster ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’.
1MDB said it believes it was defrauded into transferring RM3.5 billion into the BVI-registered Aabar.
This was as a fee to Abu Dhabi’s International Petroleum Investment Corporation, for guaranteeing 1MDB’s bonds, but IPIC has said it is not linked to Aabar BVI.
WSJ also reported the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation is looking at Riza’s multi-million dollar luxury properties in Los Angeles and New York, as part of its probe on 1MDB.
Red Granite has not responded to Malaysiakini’s multiple queries on the matter.