Former TaniHub Group CEO Sentenced to 9 Years for Corruption and Money Laundering

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Former Chief Executive Officer of PT Tani Group Indonesia (TaniHub) Group, Ivan Arie Sustiawan, has been sentenced to nine years in prison after being found guilty of corruption and money laundering related to the management of TaniHub’s investment funds between 2019 and 2023. Presiding Judge Brelly Yuniar Dien stated that Ivan was proven guilty of corruption and money laundering amounting to Rp3.26 billion, resulting in total state financial losses of 25 million US dollars, equivalent to Rp364.22 billion. “The defendant is hereby declared legally and convincingly proven guilty of committing criminal acts of corruption jointly and money laundering, as charged in the first subsidiary indictment and the second primary indictment by the public prosecutor,” said the Presiding Judge while reading the verdict at the Corruption Court in the Central Jakarta District Court on Thursday. The Presiding Judge revealed that the corrupt acts were carried out by Ivan jointly with former TaniHub Group Finance Director Edison Tobing, who was sentenced to seven years in prison. In addition to the prison sentences, Ivan and Edison were each fined Rp1 billion, with the provision that if unpaid, it would be substituted with 190 days of imprisonment. For their money laundering offences, both Ivan and Edison were also given additional sentences of paying restitution, with Ivan ordered to pay Rp3.26 billion, substitutable with four years in prison, and Edison Rp1.06 billion, substitutable with three years in prison. Thus, both defendants were found guilty of violating Article 604 and Article 607 paragraph (1) letter a in conjunction with Article 618 in conjunction with Article 20 letter c of the National Criminal Code in conjunction with Article 18 paragraph (1) letter b of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption, as amended and supplemented by Law Number 20 of 2001. Before handing down the verdict, the Panel of Judges considered the defendants’ actions, which did not support the government’s programme to eradicate corruption, as an aggravating factor. “Meanwhile, the mitigating circumstance is that each defendant has never been previously convicted,” said the Presiding Judge. The verdict was lighter than the prosecutors’ demands, which had sought a 12-year prison sentence for Ivan, a Rp1 billion fine substitutable with 190 days in prison, and restitution of Rp3.3 billion substitutable with six years in prison. For Edison, prosecutors had demanded a 10-year prison sentence, a Rp1 billion fine substitutable with 190 days in prison, and restitution of Rp1.06 billion substitutable with five years in prison.