00:001MDB's suit in the High Court to recover US$248 million from Najib Razak's stepson,
00:08Riza Aziz, and two companies linked to him, has come to an abrupt end.
00:13The company's counsel, Rabindra S. Nadhin, informed trial judge Raja Ahmad Muzanuddin
00:18Shah Raja Muzan this afternoon that he was instructed by his client to discontinue the
00:23suit.
00:24He said counsel for the defendants did not object and the only pending issue is costs,
00:29for which Raja Ahmad directed both parties to file written submissions before his ruling
00:33on Friday.
00:35The trial, which began on October 16, saw 1MDB and its subsidiaries call four witnesses,
00:41including former 1MDB general counsel Jasmine Liu and ex-CEO Shahrul Azharul Ibrahim Halmy.
00:48The defendants, Riza, Red Granite Pictures and Red Granite Capital Ltd, called one witness,
00:54Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission officer Zamri Zainul Abidin, who testified last week
01:00that Riza's representations regarding five money laundering charges had been accepted
01:03five years ago.
01:05Zamri also said the U.S. Department of Justice's asset recovery and liquidation process led
01:10to cash being transferred to 1MDB and on May 14, 2020, Riza was granted a discharge not
01:16amounting to an acquittal after agreeing to fulfill certain obligations.
01:21In the present suit, 1MDB was seeking declarations that Riza and the two Red Granite companies
01:25he controlled, which produced the film The Wolf of Wall Street, are liable to account
01:30for the funds misappropriated from 1MDB.
01:33Danish Raja Reza, FNT News.
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