Former Nadiem Anwar Makarim Aide Gave a Phone to the Former Director-General: The Phone Was Blurry During Zoom

Director of Elementary Schools at the Directorate General of Education for Early Childhood Education, Basic Education and Middle Education in 2020-2021, Sri Wahyuningsih, has admitted to having given a mobile phone to the former Director-General of PAUD, Dikdasmen, Kemedibudristek, Jumeri. Sri said there was no promise attached when she handed over the phone.

She testified before prosecutors at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Thursday (5 March 2026). The defendant in the case is former Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim.

Initially, Sri admitted to giving Rp 50 million to Jumeri. Sri said the money came from several events and there were receipts as evidence.

“Did you ever give money to Mr. Jumeri?” asked the prosecutor.

“Yes, I did give money, may I answer further, Sir. I gave a total of Rp 50 million to Mr. Jumeri and at the time Mr. Jumeri testified for us, I had confirmed that there were receipts and Mr. Jumeri also acknowledged that it was money from several activities and at that time I had shown the receipts,” Sri replied.

Sri said she had intended to show the receipts in court at a previous hearing. However, she said the panel asked that the receipts be provided in the plea.

“May I have your permission, Your Honour? At that time Your Honour asked me to submit them later in the plea. So it was money from, indeed from several invitations to him, his directives and there are the receipts,” Sri said.

Sri then admitted to having given the phone to Jumeri. She said it was her initiative.

“Did you give the phone as well?” the prosecutor asked.

“Yes, I gave the phone because the issue with the phone was that Jumeri kept Zooming with us frequently, sometimes at night, sometimes during the day, and sometimes spontaneously,” Sri replied.

Sri said the phone used by Jumeri was blurry when used for Zoom meetings. She admitted giving the phone to Jumeri out of empathy for the difficulties he experienced while Zooming.

“And sometimes he would tell us in several Zoom sessions that now it is the era of Zoom; sometimes he would Zoom in the car, and you could not see the phone clearly because it was small and blurry. I took the initiative because I had a phone, so I just gave it. There was no promise implied, only genuine empathy because he had trouble Zooming in the vehicle. He often commuted between Semarang and Jakarta,” Sri said.

For information, Sri Wahyuningsih is also a defendant in this case. She faces trial in a separate docket.

In this case, Nadiem is accused of corruption related to the procurement of Chromebook laptops while serving as Mendikbudristek. The project is said to have caused state losses of Rp 2.1 trillion.

Nadiem has filed an exception. The judge rejected the exception and ordered the trial to continue to the evidence phase.