Hollywood’s coverage of Red Granite Pictures's move from nowhere in 2010 to a “top company to watch” has made no bones about its founder Riza Aziz's wealth and links to PM Najib Tun Razak.

KUALA LUMPUR: Red Granite Pictures, the Malaysia-linked production company which bankrolled the US$100 (RM300) million ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’ movie starring Leonardo Di Caprio is rapidly gaining the same stigma the movie deals with  -  greed and debauchery.

The company is owned by Riza Aziz (left in photo), Rosmah Mansor’s son.

Hollywood’s coverage of the fast trajectory of Red Granite Pictures from nowhere in 2010 to a “top company to watch” in just three years has made no bones about the supposedly deep pockets of  Aziz, who is widely described as the son of the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak.

Aziz founded the company in 2010 – coincidentally the year after Najib took office as premier – and has reportedly  bankrolled  a number of  big  named projects in Hollywood including ‘Friends With Kids’ and ‘Dumb and Dumber To ‘ and The Wolf  of Wall Street,  which were dropped by mainstream media due to its content.

The Wolf of Wall Street, portrays the character of deplored and jailed Wall Street financier Jordan Belfort. In the US the film has been X-rated owing to its violence and sex scenes “which extend to drug taking and mass orgies.”

The movie, which was launched on Christmas Day in the US, has raised curiosity and questions  regarding not only the source of the ‘invisible’ money that’s bankrolled this mega movie directed by  Martin Scorcese but also Rosmah’s alleged advise for all Malaysian students to watch her son’s movie to ‘warn them against greed and immorality’.

Questions are being asked about how  Aziz, who is in his mid 30s, emerged as a major bankroller of Hollywood movies in the shortest time.

Speculating on the details today, online investigative portal Sarawak Report described  Aziz as “a close associate” of the controversial and flamboyant financier Jho Low (Low Taek Jho) a Penang business graduate educated in the UK and US.

Jho Low was widely reported as the front man in a number of eyebrow-raising business deals linked to both Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud and Najib’s pet project the 1Malaysia Development Berhad.

He was prominent at the launch party for the Wolf on Wall Street film, posing next to  Aziz and his partner in Red Granite Pictures, a businessman and ‘private equity cowboy’, Joey Mcfarland, on stage, fuelling further speculations of possible links.

This latest disclosure could see Najib facing a political backlash with his enemies within Umno waiting to pounce on any slip-up by the PM.

The financial background of the film provides some embarrassing images of the Najib’s immediate family living it up while Malaysians in general prepare to face tough times after years of mismanagement of funds and hubris by the Barisan Nasional government.

FMT 28/12