TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Attorney General's Office (AGO) is investigating the alleged involvement of big oil businessman Mohammad Riza Chalid in alleged corruption in the management of crude oil involving Sub Holding PT Pertamina. Riza's son, Kerry Adrianto Riza, has been named a suspect in this case. Kerry is the beneficial owner of PT Navigator Khatulistiwa.

As a result of Kerry's arrest, the Attorney General's Office searched two houses and offices owned by Riza. The first house on Jalan Jenggala II, South Jakarta, was used by his son Kerry as an office. Another house that was searched was on Jalan Panglima Polim III, Jakarta. Investigators also searched his office on the 20th floor of Plaza Asia, Jalan Jenderal Sudirman.

A Tempo source at the Attorney General's Office said that investigators were trying to find Riza to question him in this oil corruption case. There were findings at Riza's house that pointed to his son's involvement in the oil corruption case. Information received by Tempo was that Riza was abroad.

Investigators had detected that Riza was in Cambodia. Head of the Legal Information Center Harli Siregar confirmed the information. "We are building relationships, monitoring with the attaché," he said on Thursday, March 6, 2025.

At Riza's house in Jenggala, investigators found a number of documentary evidence showing Kerry's involvement in the Pertamina corruption transaction. Meanwhile, from Riza's house in Panglima Polim, the police confiscated a CCTV digital video recorder (DVR). The prosecutor's office did not reveal the contents of the CCTV recording because it was included in the investigation material.

Riza's alleged involvement in the case that dragged his son was written in a report by Tempo Magazine, March 9, 2025, entitled Alasan Kejaksaan Membidik Riza Chalid dalam Dugaan Korupsi Minyak Pertamina (Reasons for the Prosecutor's Office to Target Riza Chalid in Alleged Pertamina Oil Corruption).

In the corruption case of crude oil and refinery product management at PT Pertamina, Sub Holding, and the Cooperation Contract Contractors (KKKS) for the 2018-2023 period, Kerry is suspected of acting as a broker. In addition to Kerry, Riza's confidant, Gading Ramadhan Joede, has also been named a suspect. A prosecutor said that Gading was Riza's adopted son. He is the President Director of PT Orbit Terminal Merak and Commissioner at PT Jenggala Maritim. PT OTM is owned by Kerry.

Previously, the prosecutor's office had also searched PT OTM. Through that company, Pertamina's Sub Holding accommodated the results of imported fuel and then blended it from the original Ron 90 to Ron 92. According to regulations, the blending process should be carried out by a company owned by a State-Owned Enterprise, not a private company. That is what the prosecutor's office called a violation that benefited Kerry.

Riza's alleged involvement in the Pertamina case that dragged his son is indeed inseparable from his figure who is known as a big businessman in the oil industry. Riza's name is not the first time he has been linked to a legal case. He was once mentioned in the Zatapi oil import case, the corruption of Pertamina Energy Trading Limited or Petral, and the 'Papa Minta Saham' case.

A prosecutor said that it was difficult for the authorities to target Riza because his name was never written on the company's deed. Including in this case. Although not written, he is suspected of being the mastermind behind the private company owned by his son.

In the oil management corruption case that implicated Pertamina Sub Holding, PT Navigator Khatulistiwa and PT Jenggala Maritim are oil transport companies that received contracts from PT Pertamina Internasional Shipping to transport Pertamina's crude oil. In the contract, the prosecutor's office detected unreasonable costs in the rental of Pertamina's oil transport.

In the report previously released by the prosecutor's office, Kerry profited from marking up the value of the oil shipping contract by 13-15 percent in this case. Riza's alleged involvement was denied by Kerry's lawyer, Reyno Yohannes Romein. "Our client's business has nothing to do with his parents," he said as quoted by Tempo Magazine.

In this crude oil management corruption case, 9 people have been named as suspects. Six of them are officials at Pertamina Sub Holding and 3 others are from the private sector. In addition to the markup of the transportation service contract, the purchase of Ron 92 but what came was Ron 90 and violations of regulations in the blending process, the prosecutor's office also found that there was collusion between Pertamina's Sub Holding and private oil brokers to avoid crude oil offers. Through this collusion, domestic private parties received approval to export crude oil and Pertamina imported it to meet domestic oil needs.

In fact, the oil imported by the private sector should have been absorbed by Pertamina to meet domestic needs. So that the costs incurred by the government could be smaller.

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