The Jakarta High Court has upheld the five-year prison sentence handed to former MDI Ventures president director Donald Surjana Wihardja in the TaniHub corruption case while raising the prison term for former MDI vice president of investment Aldi Adrian Hartanto to three years.
The appellate court delivered its ruling on Hartanto’s appeal in Jakarta on Tuesday, rejecting his challenge against the two-year sentence handed down by the Jakarta Corruption Court in June. The court increased his sentence to three years while maintaining the 250-million-rupiah ($13,938) fine.
For Wihardja, the Jakarta High Court upheld the five-year prison sentence.
The rulings were delivered on Seot 22 by a panel chaired by Istiningsih Rahayu, with Elyta Ras Ginting and Fauzan as members.
The appellate ruling on Wihardja said the court upheld the June 18 ruling of the Jakarta Corruption Court. It also ordered that the entire period Widjaja and Hartanto had already spent in detention be deducted from their sentence and that both remain in custody.
If the fines cannot be paid, the defendants’ assets can be seized to cover the amount. If the fines cannot be recovered through the seizure of assets, the defendants will serve additional time in prison, in line with the terms of the original verdicts.
The defence team representing Wihardja and Hartanto is considering whether to pursue a cassation appeal at the Supreme Court.
The Jakarta High Court in early September upheld Widjaja’s three-year prison sentence and 350-million-rupiah fine. The court had also upheld Gozali’s two-year prison sentence and 250-million-rupiah fine in a separate appeal earlier this month.
Both Widjaja and Gozali were convicted by the Jakarta Corruption Court in June over the TaniHub investment case.
The June verdicts saw Wihardja sentenced to five years in prison and fined 750 million rupiah, while Hartanto received a two-year prison sentence and 250-million-rupiah fine. Widjaja was sentenced to three years and fined 350 million rupiah, while Gozali received two years and a 250-million-rupiah fine.
The case centres on $25 million invested by BRI Ventures and MDI Ventures in TaniHub. BRI Ventures invested $5 million, while MDI Ventures invested $20 million, according to the June court ruling.
The Jakarta Corruption Court said the investment resulted in state losses of $25 million, based on an audit by Indonesia’s Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP).
The defence teams have maintained that the investments were business decisions made through the companies’ procedures and that the executives did not receive personal financial benefits from the transactions.
The case has brought greater scrutiny to investment decisions at venture capital firms linked to state-owned enterprises, particularly how losses from startup investments are treated under Indonesia’s corruption laws.
