Banding Kasus BRI Ventures, Nicko Widjaja Banjir Dukungan

Photo: Special

JAKARTA - The appeal filed by former President Director of BRI Venture Investment (BVI) Nicko Widjaja is flooded with support.

Moreover, after Nicko's family uploaded a photo on his Instagram. The start-up and public actors flooded the comments on Nicko's social media.

In his IG, which is managed by his family and lawyers, there are four photos uploaded. One photo shows his parents leaning against the cell and Nicko looks like he is hugging the cell door.

The second photo, Nicko was seen leaving the courtroom escorted by officers.

The third photo, Nicko is being interviewed by a number of journalists in his cell and the last photo of Nicko from behind who is facing the prosea of his trial.

In the upload, 300 people commented and were reposted more than 500 times. One of the comments came from Peter Shearer, who is the founder of Wahyoo, a start-up that dominantly empowers warteg through a technological approach. "God accompanies falam in every process," he said in the comment column.

Comments also came from Harry B. Tjahaja Purnama. Harry is the youngest brother of the former Governor of DKI Jakarta, Basuki Tjahayya Purnama. Harry is also a politician. "Cases like this can happen to any professional, it's very worrying," he said.

Not only comments, sad emoticons were also given by Agustin Ramli. He is known as a host on television after being Miss Indonesia Tourism 2007.

After being sentenced to 3 years in prison, Nicko appealed to the Jakarta High Court. The trial on Thursday, August 13, 2026, was postponed.

After the trial, Nicko's legal advisor, Ditho Sitompoel, said his party hopes that two important witnesses can be re-presented in the appeal trial.

One of them is the founder of TaniHub, Pamitra Wineka, as the largest shareholder of the company.

"The testimony of these two witnesses will have a great influence on the outcome of the verdict," said Ditho.

According to Ditho, there was a discrepancy between the testimony of the witnesses presented in the trial and what was later included in the consideration of the District Court's decision.

One of them is the validation before the investment decision is made. Ditho emphasized that Nicko had carried out the validation process in stages in accordance with the applicable standard operating procedures.

"Our clients have carried out a tiered process, from top to bottom, they have validated data. Validating according to the SOPs that apply within their company," said Ditho.

This case began with BRI Venture Investment (BVI) investing USD 5 million to PT Tani Group Indonesia (THG Group) on February 12, 2020.

Before the decision was made, BVI had carried out corporate procedures such as board of directors and commissioners meetings, governance committees, capital committees, to the screening and due diligence process.

However, in 2022, THG Group's condition worsened due to outstanding receivables and the impact of the tech winter in the world which caused investment in the startup sector in Indonesia and other countries to drop drastically.

The company then underwent a Debt Payment Obligation (PKPU) Delay process at the Commercial Court at the Central Jakarta District Court and reached a homologation agreement that has been legally binding in 2023.

However, this condition was later seen as a loss for the state.

In the construction of this case, Nicko as the main director of BVI was asked to be held accountable, although the investment decision was made through a legitimate corporate mechanism and based on business considerations. ()