Aggravating and Mitigating Factors in the 4-Year Prison Sentence for Ibam, Former Consultant to Nadiem
Former consultant to ex-Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Anwar Makarim, Ibrahim Arief alias Ibam, has been sentenced to four years in prison in the alleged corruption case concerning the procurement of Chromebooks and Chrome Device Management (CDM). The judge stated that Ibam’s actions resulted in substantial losses to the state.
“The defendant’s actions have caused significant financial losses to the state in the 2020-2021 fiscal year,” said the chief judge of the panel, Purwanto S Abdullah, while reading the verdict at the Central Jakarta Corruption Court on Tuesday (12/5/2026).
The judge noted that Ibam’s actions were also deemed to not support the state’s programme for clean and corruption-free governance, free from collusion and nepotism. The judge added other aggravating considerations, stating that Ibam’s actions hindered the mapping of education quality in Indonesia.
“The defendant’s actions were carried out in the education sector during the 2019 pandemic, resulting in double impacts: financial losses to the state and the obstruction of mapping education quality for Indonesian children,” said the judge.
The judge stated that mitigating considerations for the sentence included Ibam having no prior prison sentences. Furthermore, Ibam was found not to have received money, goods, or facilities related to this procurement.
“Mitigating circumstances: the defendant has never been sentenced to imprisonment before; the defendant was in the position of a technology consultant providing technical input and not as the main policy designer in the Chromebook IT procurement, so the degree of the defendant’s structural role differs from that of public officials who set strategic policies,” said the judge.
“The defendant was not proven to have received direct fund flows from the IT procurement to himself,” the judge added.
Sentenced to Four Years in Prison
Previously, Ibrahim Arief alias Ibam was sentenced to four years in prison. The judge declared Ibam guilty in the alleged corruption case for the procurement of Chromebooks and Chrome Device Management (CDM).
“Declaring the defendant Ibrahim Arief alias Ibam proven legally and convincingly guilty of committing the criminal act of corruption jointly as in the subsidised indictment,” said the chief judge of the panel, Purwanto S Abdullah, while reading the verdict at the Central Jakarta Corruption Court on Tuesday (12/5/2026).
“Imposing a prison sentence on the defendant Ibrahim Arief alias Ibam for that reason of four years,” the judge added.
Ibam was also fined Rp 500 million. If the fine is not paid, it will be replaced with 120 days of imprisonment.
This verdict is far lower than the prosecutors’ demand. Previously, Ibam was demanded 15 years in prison, a fine of Rp 1 billion subsidised by 190 days of imprisonment. The prosecutors also demanded Ibam pay restitution of Rp 16.92 billion subsidised by seven years and six months in prison.