Interpol issues red notice for Indonesia 'gasoline godfather'

JAKARTA: Interpol issued a red notice for the arrest of one of Indonesia’s biggest oil tycoons over a $285 million corruption scandal, police said late Sunday.

Mohammad Riza Chalid, 66, nicknamed the “gasoline godfather”, is wanted in Indonesia for his alleged involvement in corruption at state-owned oil company Pertamina between 2018 and 2023, including for money laundering and manipulating a lease agreement.

Untung Widyatmoko, secretary of Interpol’s Indonesia National Central Bureau, said a red notice had been issued by Interpol on January 23.

“We can’t specify exactly where he is, but we already know,” he said.

The notice was sent to Interpol’s 196 member countries to request law enforcement worldwide help locate and provisionally arrest Riza.

In July, Riza, his son, Muhammad Kerry Adrianto Riza and several of Pertamina’s high-ranking officials were named in the corruption case.

They are accused of working together to import crude oil from overseas suppliers at higher prices rather than source it domestically as mandated by Indonesian law, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Riza’s Indonesian passport was revoked in October, according to the country’s immigration office.

Indonesia has long struggled with graft and has arrested scores of public officials in recent years.

In 2023, a former communications minister was jailed for 15 years after being found guilty of corruption in a case that investigators said cost the country more than $530 million.