Demand for 18 Years in Prison and Heartbreak for Nadiem Makarim

JAKARTA - Former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Anwar Makarim has been demanded to serve 18 years in prison in a case of alleged corruption in the procurement of Chromebook-based laptops.

The Public Prosecutors also demand that Nadiem pay a fine of Rp1 billion and restitution amounting to a total of approximately Rp5.68 trillion.

After the hearing, Nadiem expressed his disappointment and questioned the magnitude of the demands imposed on him, even stating that the demands were heavier than those in several other serious criminal cases.

“(Requesting the panel of judges) To impose a prison sentence on the Defendant Nadiem Anwar Makarim therefore with a prison term of 18 years minus the period the Defendant has been in temporary detention, with an order for the Defendant to be immediately detained in the State Detention House,” said the prosecutor when reading out the demands.

In addition to the prison sentence, the prosecutors also demand that Nadiem pay a fine of Rp1 billion.

If not paid, the fine will be replaced with imprisonment for 190 days.

“(Restitution) constitutes the Defendant’s assets that are disproportionate to his lawful income or suspected to be from the criminal act of corruption,” said the prosecutor.

The prosecutors also state that if Nadiem does not have sufficient assets to pay the restitution, it will be replaced with a prison term of nine years.

In their demands, the prosecutors also request that the evidence remains as stated in the demand letter and that the costs of the case amounting to Rp10,000 be borne by the defendant.

In the hearing, the prosecutors assessed that the procurement of Chromebook-based laptops during the period 2020 to 2022 was carried out for personal gain and impacted the quality of education in Indonesia.

“The Defendant’s actions in committing the criminal act of corruption in the education sector, which is a strategic sector for national development, have resulted in the hindrance of the quality and equity of education for children in Indonesia,” said the prosecutor.

The prosecutors also highlighted the increase in the defendant’s assets, which is deemed disproportionate to his lawful income.

“Thus, the defendant’s assets have experienced an increase that is disproportionate to his lawful income or suspected to be from the criminal act of corruption amounting to Rp4,871,469,603,758,” said the prosecutor.