Expert at Nadiem's Trial: Only PPATK is Authorised to Declare Funds as Proceeds of Crime

Jakarta - A criminal law expert from Padjadjaran University, Romli Atmasasmita, stated that only the Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) can declare that a flow of funds originates from criminal activity, and no other institution is permitted to do so.

“If one wants to know whether the money flowing into our account comes from crime, only PPATK is authorised to determine that. Outside of that, it is not allowed,” Romli said during the trial for the Chromebook laptop procurement case at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday (4/5/2026).

Romli spoke as an expert witness presented to mitigate the case by former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Makarim, the defendant in the alleged corruption case involving the procurement of Chromebook-based laptops.

“Even tax officials can only say there is tax evasion, but they are not allowed to say it comes from crime. The one who can say that is PPATK,” Romli added.

This is because the inflows and outflows from an account can only be known by PPATK.

“So, the inflows and outflows of funds are only known by PPATK, and they will know the indications of the origin of those funds,” he further explained.

The incoming funds in question are said to be in the form of shares worth hundreds of billions. The prosecutors did not specify the name of the official in question.

However, in this case, Nadiem is alleged to have enriched himself by Rp 809 billion, which is said to be an investment from Google into a company affiliated with Nadiem, namely Gojek.

In this case, former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Makarim, along with three other defendants, are said to have caused a state financial loss of Rp 2.1 trillion.

Nadiem is charged with self-enrichment worth Rp 809 billion. This figure is said to come from Google’s investment into Gojek or PT AKAB.

Meanwhile, Mulyatsyah is said to have received SGD 120,000 and USD 150,000.

Nadiem is alleged to have abused his authority, making Google the sole controller of ICT procurement, including laptops, in Indonesia’s technology ecosystem.

This was done by directing the procurement study towards a single product, namely Chrome-based devices, which is a Google product.