Riza Aziz, step-son to mega thief Najib Razak, and a partner in the latters’s mega thefts is now trying to use the legal system of the United States to delay the arrival of handcuffs on his wrists.

To that end he has employed an American lawyer who has, very professionally, rolled out every possible legal excuse and reason why justice should not be done to this junior thief. Junior because his theft of 100 million from 1MDB pales into insignificance beside his step father’s criminal gains. But still 100 million dollars is not, as the Americans say, peanuts and should be good for a very long stretch in a federal prison.

No doubt his US lawyer has explained to him that, very shortly, the Justice Department will follow up its civil suit with criminal charges and that he, Aziz, will be in the dock. A step on the road to that federal jail where young, good-looking males often find a new way of life; not always to their taste.

It seems that young Riza may have mistaken the USA and its justice system as a parallel to the corrupt apparatus that so besmirches Malaysia. He may even have naively enquired what an acquittal might cost. In that case his US legal representative will have disabused him. America is not Malaysia for which its citizens must give daily thanks. Meanwhile Riza will no doubt continue to spend his stolen millions on the most expensive legal talent available to him. The losers, the Malaysian taxpayers, will at least have the consolation of looking at him through the bars.