Interpol has issued a red notice for the arrest of one of Indonesia’s biggest oil tycoons over a $285 million corruption scandal, police said late on Sunday.
Mohammad Riza Chalid, 66, nicknamed the “gasoline godfather”, is wanted in Indonesia for his alleged role in corruption at the state-owned oil company Pertamina between 2018 and 2023, including charges of money laundering and manipulating a lease agreement.
Untung Widyatmoko, secretary of Interpol’s Indonesia National Central Bureau, said the red notice was issued on 23 January.
“We can’t specify exactly where he is, but we already know,” he said.
The notice has been circulated to Interpol’s 196 member countries, requesting law enforcement worldwide to locate and provisionally arrest Riza.
In July, Riza, his son Muhammad Kerry Adrianto Riza, and several senior Pertamina officials were named in the corruption case.
They are accused of collaborating to import crude oil from overseas suppliers at inflated prices, rather than sourcing it domestically as required under Indonesian law, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
Riza’s Indonesian passport was revoked in October, the country’s immigration office said.
Indonesia has long struggled with corruption and has jailed numerous public officials in recent years.
In 2023, a former communications minister was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being found guilty of corruption in a case investigators said cost the country more than $530 million.
