Report: Former AG Tommy Thomas denies agreeing to drop Najib stepson Riza Aziz’s charges
KUALA LUMPUR, May 14 — Tan Sri Tommy Thomas has reportedly refuted the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC) claim today that he agreed with the decision to release Riza Shahriz Abdul Aziz from five counts of money laundering today.
In a report by The Malaysian Insight, the former attorney general said he was aware of a written representation to the Attorney General’s Chambers regarding the case, but he had handed it over to ad hoc prosecutor Datuk Seri Gopal Sri Ram to examine.
“I resigned two and a half months ago and up to that point, there was no agreement to drop charges against Riza. So, it is wholly untrue and a fabrication to say that I had agreed to the decision.
“I am terribly disappointed that the MACC had to make this false statement,” he reportedly said.
Riza had filed his representation on November 18 last year, while Thomas quit as attorney general in late February after former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad had tendered his own resignation.
When contacted by Malay Mail, Thomas confirmed his quotes as reported by The Malaysian Insight.
Earlier today, the MACC said the agreement between the prosecution and the accused through representation in court was a decision considered and agreed by Thomas.
This comes after Riza was reported granted a discharge not amounting to an acquittal at the sessions court this morning, where Gopal, who was lead prosecutor, was quoted saying how the agreement had been made between the prosecution and the accused.
Sri Ram was said to have told the court that the federal government would receive a substantial sum running into “several million ringgit” as a result of the agreement.
MACC later said the Malaysian government is expected to recover overseas assets involved in the offense, which is estimated at US$107.3 million (RM465.3 million).
On July 5, 2019, Riza — who is also co-founder of the Hollywood production house Red Granite Pictures and son of Najib’s wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor — was charged with five counts of money-laundering under Section 4(1)(a) of the Anti-Money Laundering and Anti-Terrorism Financing Act 2001 (AMLATFA).
Riza pleaded not guilty and claimed trial to the five charges, which are each punishable with a maximum RM5 million fine or maximum five-year jail term or both.
He was accused of receiving a total of US$248,173,104 (equivalent to about RM1.026 billion by the exchange rate on the day he was charged or over RM1.075 billion by today’s exchange rate) between April 2011 and November 2012.
The funds were alleged to have flowed in cross-border transactions from two Switzerland bank accounts of two companies named in the massive 1MDB financial scandal — Good Star Limited and Aabar Investments PJS Limited — to the US bank account of Red Granite Productions Inc and the Singapore bank account of Red Granite Capital Ltd.
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