Judge Andi dissents: Nadiem should be acquitted

The defendant, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, should be acquitted of all charges.

Jakarta (ANTARA) - One of the five judges at the Corruption Court of the Central Jakarta District Court has expressed a dissenting opinion, assessing that the defendant, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, should be acquitted in the alleged Chromebook corruption case.

Member Judge Andi Saputra stated that Nadiem was not proven legally and convincingly guilty of committing the criminal acts as charged in both the primary and subsidiary indictments.

“Therefore, the defendant Nadiem Anwar Makarim must be acquitted of all such charges,” said Andi while reading his dissenting opinion during the verdict session at the Corruption Court of the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday.

According to Andi, the evidence presented was insufficient to prove Nadiem’s involvement, as there was no clear consistency or causal link between the pieces of evidence.

Andi stated that Nadiem never ordered, either directly or indirectly, his subordinates—namely Ibrahim Arief (alias Ibam), Mulyatsyah, and Sri Wahyuningsih—to commit acts of corruption.

“Similarly, Ibrahim, Mulyatsyah, and Sri never provided any unlawful gifts to the defendant. Furthermore, the defendant was not proven to have performed direct or indirect interventions with the procurement committee,” he said.

According to Andi, the laptop procurement policy, the occurrence of state losses, and Google’s capital injection into PT GoTo were three events that occurred in close proximity, but lacked a strong causal relationship.

“Because there is insufficient evidence of a ‘meeting of minds’ between the defendant Nadierb and Mulyatsyah and Sri to commit a crime together, then within the limits of reasonable reasoning, the defendant was not involved in the criminal acts committed by Mulyatsyah and Sri together,” Andi stated.

Nevertheless, the panel of judges, through the majority verdict, maintained that Nadiem was proven guilty in the alleged corruption case concerning the education digitalisation programme, specifically 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 (subsidised by 190 days of imprisonment), and must pay restitution of Rp809.59 billion (subsidised by five years of imprisonment).

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 inconsistent with planning and the principles of goods and services procurement.

The panel of judges also stated that the criminal act was committed alongside three other convicts, namely Ibrahim Arief (alias Ibam), Mulyatsyah, and Sri Wahyuningsih, as well as Jurist Tan, who remains a fugitive.

For his actions, Nadiem was found to have violated Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Corruption Crimes, as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001, in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the 1st Substantive Clause of the Criminal Code.