Jho Low and Jamie Foxx in Man on the Run
MAN ON THE RUN
Directed by Cassius Michael Kim
Certificate: 12a
☆☆☆☆
THE Martin Scorsese / Leonardo Di Caprio blockbuster The Wolf of Wolf Street tells the story of mind-shattering greed and dodgy financial products.
And while the film is a brilliant take down of the ridiculous extravagance of capitalism, and how the love of money is genuinely the root of all evil, this documentary casts a brilliantly shiny light on how the film was bankrolled.
Di Caprio’s Oscar-winning role was paid for by a company called Red Granite. Behind this firm was a mysterious playboy and the Malaysian prime minister, Najed Razak.
Director Cassius Michael Kim uses a tool box of investigative journalism techniques to tell an extraordinary story of government conspiracy, money laundering and theft from a country.
In 2009, a mysterious businessman who was known as Jho Low met and charmed the Malaysian PM Najeb Razak. Low was often spotted at his glitzy parties, packed with famous movie stars. His no-expense-spared approach attracted many who hoped his glamour would rub off on them.
The pair decided to use a firm called 1MDB, a sovereign wealth fund established in 2009 to improve the infrastructure of the nation, as well as their personal bank accounts. They siphoned off more than £5bn.
In 2015, a reporter called Clare Rewcastle-Brown was handed evidence of hair-raising levels of criminality. It showed funds being channelled into private bank accounts – including one payment of more than £600m to the prime minister, a figure he claimed was a “present” from an anonymous Saudi prince. Low used the funds to buy huge homes, private jets, giant yachts and throw huge parties.
There is a bit of complicated financial jiggery-pokery about bonds and off-shore accounts and weird products that explains how this criminal enterprise was put together.
This brilliantly researched documentary, which could be the basis for an outlandish Robert Harris novel, reveals how a band of criminals did such massive damage to their victims that an entire country’s stability was threatened by their behaviour.
Low and Razak are at the centre of the story, but around them are numerous heroic investigators who put themselves in physical danger to uncover the plot and expose those behind it.
Director Kim has made contact with the cornerstones of this story, and with first-person accounts, lifts the lid on one of the biggest financial scams ever committed.
