JAKARTA: A reclusive oil merchant dominated Indonesia’s fuel trade for decades. Now he is embroiled in a US$18 billion probe into the country’s state-owned oil producer that has become a litmus test for President Prabowo Subianto’s anticorruption drive.
Mohammad Riza Chalid (pic), who has long maintained high-level political ties, is known in the industry as the "Gasoline Godfather” for his key role in importing billions of dollars of oil products, mostly from neighbouring Singapore. His star has been waning - Indonesia wants to rely less on costly overseas purchases of gasoline or diesel - but he is the most audacious target to date for the current administration, as it reshuffles its energy procurement and attempts to supercharge growth in South-East Asia’s largest economy.
