Judge: Rp4 Million Markup per Laptop Unit in Nadiem Era, Indonesia Loses Rp5.2 Trillion
The panel of judges at the Corruption Court (Tipikor) of the Central Jakarta District Court stated that the financial loss to the state in the procurement of Chromebooks and Chrome Device Management (CDM) at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for the 2020-2022 fiscal years under Nadiem Makarim amounted to Rp5.2 trillion.
In the trial reading of the verdict for the defendant Ibrahim Arief alias Ibam, a consultant at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, member judge Sunoto explained that the state financial loss arose from the procurement of unnecessary CDM and the inflation or markup of Chromebook prices.
Ibam committed unlawful acts (PMH) during the period or years 2020-2021 alone, resulting in a state financial loss of Rp937 billion.
“What directly proves the defendant’s operational involvement [Ibrahim Arief] in the activation of Chrome Device Management, the main instrument causing state loss of US$44,054,426 equivalent to Rp621,387,678,730,” the judge stated at the Jakarta Tipikor Court on Tuesday (12/5).
“Thus, doctrinally, the defendant has used the opportunity and facilities inherent in his position as engineer leader (technical leader) and member of the technical team to facilitate the procurement that harms the state finances, and substantively deviates from the resignation that the defendant claims occurred on 26 May 2020 with the last working day on 25 June 2020,” he added.
Meanwhile, the judge added that there was a markup of the Chromebook laptop price of around Rp4 million per unit, three times the market price.
“And mathematically simple shows a markup of Rp4 million per unit or three times the market price,” the judge said.
The judge stated that the state financial loss due to the overpriced Chromebooks amounted to Rp4.6 trillion.
The judge revealed that this amount is far greater than the indictment by the Public Prosecutor (JPU) of the Attorney General’s Office, which only mentioned state financial loss due to overpriced Chromebooks of Rp1.5 trillion—based on an audit by the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) of Indonesia.
“If multiplied by the procurement quantity of 1,159,327 Chromebook units, it equals a loss of over Rp4 trillion, which is far greater than the BPKP calculation of Rp1,567,888,602,716.74,” the judge said.
“Thus proving that the state loss calculation relied upon by the Prosecutor is conservative and beneficial to the defendant, not otherwise as argued by the defendant’s legal counsel,” he continued.
Ibam was sentenced to four years in prison and a fine of Rp500 million subsidiary 120 days in prison.
The verdict is much lighter than the prosecutor’s demand, which sought 15 years in prison for Ibam, a fine of Rp1 billion subsidiary 190 days imprisonment, and restitution of Rp16.92 billion subsidiary 7 years and 6 months imprisonment.
This case was decided by the panel chairman Purwanto S. Abdullah with member judges Sunoto, Eryusman, Mardiantos, and Andi Saputra.
Member judges Eryusman and Andi Saputra had differing opinions or Dissenting Opinion (DO). Both viewed that Ibam should be acquitted of the prosecutor’s charges because the elements of the alleged offence were not proven.
The difference of opinion, among others, highlighted Ibam’s background of having no relationship with other witnesses at the Ministry of Education and Culture before the time of the criminal act or tempus delicti occurred.
Ibam was also said not to have been proven to have approached or lobbied internal parties at the Ministry of Education and Culture who were authorised regarding budget planning.
The Chromebook price submitted by Ibam, according to Andi, only referred to sales on the marketplace and was in the nature of a recommendation.
The judge’s verdict has not yet gained legal force or become final (inkrah) because the parties have a maximum of 7 working days to submit their stance.