Repatriation of 1MDB funds

It was reported that the United States authorities are currently preparing to return alleged misappropriated funds from 1MDB to Malaysia. The amount is totalled at USD200 million (RM828 million).

 

The funds include USD140 million (RM578 million) from the sale of Jho Low’s stake in New York’s Park Lane Hotel and about USD60 million (RM248 million) from the settlement by Red Granite Pictures.

 

The CEO of the production company is Riza Aziz, the stepson of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and a close friend of Jho Low. US prosecutors alleged that Riza used more than USD100 million (RM390 million) to fund three movies, namely “The Wolf of Wall Street”, “Dumb and Dumber To” and “Daddy’s Home”.

 

These are all connected to fugitive businessman Jho Low.

 

 Malaysia, Malaysia Indicator, 1MDB , Najib Razak, Jho Low

 

Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad announced that currently only less than RM2 billion was recovered from the stolen 1MDB funds. Additionally, he said that Jho Low has taken RM42 billion from the development fund, further questioning on who received the money.

 

 Malaysia, Malaysia Indicator, 1MDB , Najib Razak, Jho Low

 

Jho Low remains as the second most mentioned figure in 1MDB after Najib. For the past one-month period, Jho Low has 286 news articles (22.29%) related to 1MDB. But, Najib has a major share of the attention with 860 news articles (67.03%).

 

The Singaporean authorities are also preparing to return stolen 1MDB funds to Malaysia with the sum of approximately RM106.4 million. The money was surrendered by former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng and his family.