Ibam Trial Reveals Beneficiaries of Nadiem's Chromebook Project
Google LLC and PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (PT AKAB) were named as beneficiaries in the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) during the tenure of Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Anwar Makarim.
This was revealed during the sentencing hearing for former consultant to Nadiem, Ibrahim Arief alias Ibam, at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Tuesday (12/5).
The judge stated that the element ‘with the intent to benefit oneself or others or a corporation’ as formulated in Article 3 of the Corruption Eradication Law had been proven in Ibam’s actions.
“Considering that based on the legal facts revealed in the trial as outlined in the legal facts section of this decision, various parties have been proven to have obtained benefits from the series of actions in the procurement of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) equipment, specifically Chromebooks, from 2020 to 2022, involving the defendant as an information technology consultant and member of the minister’s special staff team as well as the technology stall team at the Ministry of Education and Culture,” said member judge Sunoto.
The judge categorised the benefits into two types based on their nature and legal weight. The first is commercial gains, and the second is gratuities received.
“First, commercial benefits obtained by corporations involved in the procurement chain. Second, receipts qualified as gratuities received by officials and individuals within the Ministry of Education and Culture along with its support network,” he said.
The following is a list of parties benefiting under the commercial gains category:
PT Bhinneka Mentari Dimensi, as the main partner in the 2020-2022 ICT procurement, obtained significant realised payment values from the Directorate of Primary Schools, Directorate of Junior High Schools, and Early Childhood Education, with a profit margin of around 80% per unit for hundreds of thousands of Chromebook units from various brands.
The local Chromebook principals, namely PT Bangga Teknologi Indonesia (Advan), PT Tera Data Indonesia (AXIOO), PT Zyrexindo Mandiri Buana (Zyrex), PT Supertone (SPC), and PT Acer Indonesia (Acer), obtained significant benefits from the Ministry of Education and Culture’s ICT procurement, where prior to 2021, none of these five principals had mass-produced Chromebooks and only began production after learning of the impending procurement at the Ministry of Education and Culture, each signing a ChromeOS Brand Features and Support Agreement with Google as the basis for licensing the operating system.
Google LLC, as the principal corporation of the ChromeOS operating system, obtained multi-layered commercial benefits:
First, payments for Chrome Device Management (CDM) fees of 38 dollars per unit for a total of 1,159,327 Chromebook units, cumulatively amounting to 44,054,426 US Dollars.
Second, control of the education operating system market share in Indonesia through the specification of ChromeOS in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s ICT procurement based on Ministry of Education Regulation 5/2021.
Third, long-term ecosystem dependency or lock-in, binding user schools to the corporation’s services throughout the device’s lifespan.
- PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (AKAB), as a corporate entity in the Gojek or GoTo ecosystem, obtained increased capital from investments by Google entities as confirmed in notary deed number 40 dated 11 October 2021, made just one week after funds from Google were received on 5 October 2021.
Additionally, there were three share sale transactions by Google entities of PT GoTo shares before the Initial Public Offering (IPO), where PT AKAB’s shares are owned, among others, by Nadiem Anwar Makarim as one of the founders, who at the same time held the position of Minister of Education and Culture, which issued Ministry of Education Regulation 5/2021 as the normative basis for the aforementioned procurement.
The following parties benefited under the second category of gratuity receipts:
Mulyatsyah, as Director of Junior High Schools doubling as Commitment Making Officer, was proven to have received SGD 120,000, equivalent to Rp 1.2 billion, in April 2021 from Mariana Susy. Part of this receipt was distributed to Hamid Muhammad for Rp300 million, Jumeri for Rp150 million, and Sutanto for Rp100 million, with Rp200 million retained for himself, as per Mulyatsyah’s testimony.
Mariana Susy, as a consultant partner to PT Bhinneka Mentari Dimensi, was proven to have given gratuities to several Commitment Making Officials (PPK) within the Ministry of Education and Culture, with details:
Harnowo Susanto, as Commitment Making Officer of the Junior High School Directorate, Rp300 million in the 2020 budget and Rp350 million in the 2021 budget.
Wahyu Ariyadi, as PPK of the Primary School Directorate, Rp35 million.
And together with Indra Nugraha, USD 20,000 in 2021 and USD 20,000 in 2022 to Dhany Hamiddan Khoir, as Commitment Making Officer of the Senior High School Directorate, part of which has been deposited into the RPL 139 PDT Jampidsus account as listed in the evidence list.
In this case, the judge sentenced Ibam to four years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rp 500 million, subsidiary 120 days’ imprisonment. The judge stated that Ibam was guilty of violating Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of the Corruption Eradication Law in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph 1 (1) of the old Criminal Code.