04 April 2016•Update: 11 April 2016
By P Prem Kumar
KUALA LUMPUR
Malaysia’s indebted state investment arm has denied allegations that it funded the production of The Wolf of Wall Street film starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
The response Monday comes after the publication of a report saying that 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) -- which amassed 42 billion Ringgit (over $10 billion) in debts in six years of operations -- had channeled funds to the Hollywood film’s producer, Red Granite Pictures.
"We were not involved with the said film in any capacity as alleged or implied by some foreign media reports," 1MDB said in a short statement.
"1MDB has never invested in or transferred funds to Red Granite Pictures, whether directly or via intermediaries. Any statement to the contrary is false," it added.
The Wolf of Wall Street was released in 2013 after the United States-based film company invested $100 million in it.
Red Granite Pictures was co-founded by Riza Aziz -- a stepson of embattled Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak -- and Joey McFarland in 2010.
On Saturday, the Wall Street Journal reported that the production of The Wolf of Wall Street took six years due to Hollywood studios’ reluctance to invest in a movie depicting stock market scams.
Red Granite Pictures, however, then stepped in with more than $100 million in funding.
The report also alleged that the company had received $155 million from 1MDB in 2012.
1MDB was created through the transformation of a small fund into a federal agency, after Razak -- who also serves as the fund’s advisory board chair -- became premier in 2009.
Razak has been under pressure to resign over 1MDB’s debts and an alleged $681 million political donation from the Saudi royal family into his personal bank accounts.
