Designated Suspect Twice, Riza Chalid Still Evades Capture

The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) has once again designated M. Riza Chalid (MRC) as a suspect in a corruption case. On Thursday night (9/4/2026) WIB, investigators from the AGO’s Joint Corruption Eradication Task Force named the “Oil King” as a suspect in the corruption involving the procurement of RON 88 and RON 92 petrol by Pertamina Energy Trading Limited (Petral) for the fiscal years 2008-2015.

However, the investigation team has yet to succeed in capturing Riza Chalid, who is now an international fugitive. Director of Investigations for the Joint Corruption Eradication Task Force, Syarif Sulaiman Nahdi, stated that his team is continuing to coordinate with the National Central Bureau (NCB) of the Indonesian National Police and Interpol to track down Riza Chalid’s whereabouts.

Since last year, Riza Chalid has been on Interpol’s wanted list, which includes more than 197 countries. “Regarding the MRC case, he is indeed a fugitive with a red notice already issued by Interpol. Therefore, we are continuing to work with Interpol to bring him in, to extradite MRC,” Syarif said in Jakarta on Thursday (9/4/2026).

Syarif declined to disclose the latest coordination with Interpol regarding Riza Chalid’s location. Some information strengthens suspicions that Riza Chalid is in Malaysia under the protection of the royalty in one of the states.

When confirmed about this, Syarif stated that legal resolution against Riza Chalid must still be pursued given his status as a suspect in two separate corruption cases. “We are still making efforts accordingly, as MRC is not only a suspect in the previous case but also in this Petral case,” Syarif said.

The first case implicating MRC as a corruption suspect was announced by the Joint Corruption Eradication Task Force in July 2025. That first case relates to the procurement of crude oil and refinery products by PT Pertamina’s subholding from 2018 to 2022.