Judge Andi dissents: Nadiem should be acquitted

Judge Andi Saputra stated that the defendant Nadiem Anwar Makarim should be acquitted of all charges. “Therefore, the defendant Nadiem Anwar Makarim must be acquitted of all these charges,” Andi said while reading out his dissenting opinion during the verdict hearing at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday. According to Andi, the evidence presented was insufficient to prove Nadiem’s involvement because there was no clear correlation or causal relationship between the pieces of evidence. Andi said Nadiem never ordered, either directly or indirectly, his subordinates, namely Ibrahim Arief alias Ibam, Mulyatsyah, and Sri Wahyuningsih, to commit corruption. “Conversely, Ibrahim, Mulyatsyah, and Sri never gave any unlawful gifts to the defendant. In addition, the defendant was also not proven to have intervened directly or indirectly with the procurement committee,” he said. According to Andi, the laptop procurement policy, the resulting state losses, and the capital injection by Google into PT GoTo were three events that occurred close together but did not have a strong causal relationship. “Because there is insufficient evidence of a meeting of mind between the defendant Nadiem and Mulyatsyah and Sri to commit a crime together, within the bounds of reasonable reasoning, the defendant was not involved in the criminal acts committed jointly by Mulyatsyah and Sri,” Andi stated. However, the panel of judges, through a majority verdict, still found Nadiem guilty in the alleged corruption case of the education digitalisation programme involving the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for the 2019-2022 period. The former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology was sentenced to 10 years in prison, a fine of Rp1 billion, subsidiary to 190 days of confinement, and ordered to pay restitution of Rp809.59 billion, subsidiary to five years in prison. In the majority verdict, the panel of judges stated that Nadiem’s actions resulted in state financial losses of Rp1.56 trillion through the procurement of Chromebook laptops and CDM, which was deemed not in accordance with planning or the principles of goods and services procurement. The panel of judges also stated that the criminal act was committed together with three other convicts, namely Ibrahim Arief alias Ibam, Mulyatsyah, and Sri Wahyuningsih, as well as Jurist Tan, who remains a fugitive.