The South Jakarta District Prosecutor’s Office has extended the detention of three key suspects in the TaniHub investment fraud case for another 40 days, pushing their custody till September 25, 2025, from August 16.
The decision was confirmed by Suyanto Reksa Sumarta, head of the special crimes division (Kasi Pidsus) at the South Jakarta District Prosecutor’s Office, in an interaction with DealStreetAsia. “True [the detention has been extended to September 25],” he said.
The extension applies to the three individuals—identified by their initials—MDI Ventures chief executive officer DSW [Donald Wihardja]; former Tanihub president director IAS [Ivan Arie Setiawan]; and ETPLT [Edison Tobing], a former director at the company. They were officially detained on July 28 and have remained in custody since then.
DealStreetAsia has reached out to MDI Ventures for comment.
Prosecutors accuse them of manipulating corporate data and approving a $25 million investment made jointly by MDI Ventures and BRI Ventures into TaniHub and affiliated entities without a proper legal basis, with a portion of the funds allegedly diverted for personal use.
In parallel with the detention extension, as per local media reports, prosecutors have intensified asset-tracing measures. On August 19, authorities seized over 4,700 square meters of land in Bandung, West Java, worth more than 60 billion rupiah ($3.69 million), belonging to Setiawan. Officials said asset seizures will continue as part of ongoing recovery efforts.
“So far, only land has been confiscated, but further asset recovery efforts are ongoing,” Sumarta said. Investigators are also widening their net of witnesses. On August 6, three individuals, including directors of PT Karya Pangan and Green Pangan, as well as a TaniHub staff member, were questioned.
More recently, on August 11, prosecutors summoned several high-profile figures for testimony, among them Muhammad Fajrin Rasyid, former Director of Digital Business at Telkom Indonesia and current Commissioner at MDI Ventures, along with several executives from MDI and BRI Ventures.
Those are identified by initials, RANR, OVP Group Digital Strategic Telkom; DH, Secretary of the Investment Committee at MDI and Group Digital Strategy Officer at Telkom; EY, Vice President of Finance at MDI; ASE, Vice President of Business Development at MDI; AN, Strategic Investment officer at Telkom; HS, Commissioner at BRI Ventures; INSY, Commissioner at BRI Ventures; YS, Director at BRI Ventures; and ADN, wife of suspect Ivan Arie Setiawan.
Telkom declined to comment when reached out by DealStreetAsia.
The investigation has now involved more than 30 witnesses, underscoring the scale of the probe into one of Indonesia’s most prominent agritech startups. Prosecutors said the focus remains on mapping the financial flows and holding those responsible to account.
Gita Rossiana is contributed to this report.
