Aggravating and Mitigating Factors in Nadiem Makarim's 10-Year Prison Sentence

The Panel of Judges at the Corruption Court considered several aggravating and mitigating factors before handing down a sentence to defendant Nadiem Makarim in the Chromebook case. ‘Before imposing a sentence on the defendant, the panel of judges presented the aggravating and mitigating circumstances, as stipulated in Article 54 of the National Criminal Code,’ said Presiding Judge Purwanto Abdullah while reading the verdict at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday. The Presiding Judge explained the aggravating circumstances of the verdict, namely that Nadiem’s actions contradicted the commitment of the government and society to eradicating corruption, and that the defendant, as a minister who should have been a role model, instead abused his authority. Furthermore, Nadiem’s actions were deemed to have been carried out in a planned, structured, and systematic manner, resulting in very large state financial losses and having a broad impact on the provision of education, especially for children in disadvantaged, frontier, and outermost (3T) regions. In addition, Nadiem’s very affluent economic situation, which meant there was no economic necessity driving his actions, was also considered an aggravating factor. Meanwhile, the mitigating factors considered by the panel of judges were that Nadiem had never been convicted before, was polite and cooperative during the trial, and was previously known as a figure who contributed to educational and technological innovation. In the alleged corruption case of the education digitalisation programme involving the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for the 2019–2022 period, Nadiem was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being proven to have committed corruption. In addition to the prison sentence, he was also fined Rp1 billion, subsidiary to 190 days’ imprisonment, and ordered to pay restitution of Rp809.59 billion, subsidiary to 5 years’ imprisonment. The restitution was imposed after it was proven that Nadiem had received Rp809.59 billion originating from PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (PT AKAB) through PT Gojek Indonesia. It was stated that a large portion of PT AKAB’s funds came from a Google investment worth 786.99 million US dollars. In this case, the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for the 2019–2024 period was proven to have abused his authority, causing state financial losses amounting to Rp1.56 trillion. The corruption was allegedly carried out, among other things, by implementing the procurement of information and communication technology-based learning facilities in the form of Chromebook laptops and CDM for the 2020, 2021, and 2022 fiscal years, which did not comply with procurement planning and procurement principles.