Judge: Rp809 Billion Replacement Payment to Nadiem Sourced from PT AKAB
The Panel of Judges at the Corruption Court of the Central Jakarta District Court has stated that the replacement fund of Rp809.59 billion imposed on the defendant, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, originated from fund flows from PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (PT AKAB) to PT Gojek Indonesia on 13 October 2021.
Chief Judge Purwanto Abdullah stated that these funds came from Google’s investment into PT AKAB, which was preceded by regulations issued by Nadiem during his tenure as the Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for the 2019-2024 period.
“The defendant issued the Regulation of the Minister of Education and Culture Number 5 of 2021, which locked the specifications of the Chrome Operating System (OS) in the procurement of Chromebooks valued at more than Rp1.5 trillion,” the Chief Judge said while reading the legal considerations during the verdict session at the Central Jakarta Corruption Court on Tuesday.
Through this policy, the Chief Judge opined that Google subsequently realised an investment into PT AKAB of approximately 69 million US dollars in August 2021, occurring several months after the ministerial regulation was issued, as part of a total investment reaching 786.99 million US dollars.
The Panel of Judges assessed that the temporal and substantive correlation between the issuance of policies benefiting Google and the flow of Google’s investment into Nadiem’s corporate ecosystem was not a coincidence, but a tangible manifestation of the intent to benefit corporations, which constitutes an element of Article 3 of the Law on Corruption Crimes proven in Nadiem’s case.
“From the Google investment entering PT AKAB, PT AKAB laundered capital to PT Gojek Indonesia amounting to over Rp809 billion, which on the same day was returned as loan repayment based on a loan agreement in the notary deed of Jose Dima Satria,” said the Chief Judge.
Therefore, the Chief Judge emphasised that the causal chain from Nadiem’s corrupt policies to the fund flow of Rp809.59 billion into his corporate ecosystem can be clearly traced.
In the case of alleged corruption regarding 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 2019-2022, Nadiem was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being proven guilty of corruption.
In addition to the prison sentence, he was also ordered to pay a fine of Rp1 billion, subsidised by 190 days in prison, and a replacement fund of Rp809.59 billion, subsidised by 5 years in prison.
It was noted that the majority of PT AKAB’s funds originated from Google’s investment worth 786.99 million US dollars.
In this case, Nadiem was proven to have abused his authority, resulting in state financial losses amounting to Rp1.56 trillion.
The corruption allegedly involved conducting the procurement of information and communication technology-based learning facilities, specifically Chromebook laptops and CDM for the 2020, 2021, and 2022 fiscal years, in a manner inconsistent with procurement planning and principles.
The actions of the co-founder of one of the technology companies were declared to have been carried out alongside three other defendants who have been sentenced in different trials, namely Ibrahim Arief (alias Ibam), Mulyatsyah, and Sri Wahyuningsih, as well as Jurist Tan, who is currently a fugitive.
Consequently, the former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology was proven to have violated the criminal provisions stipulated in Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of Corruption Crimes, as amended and supplemented by Law Number 20 of 2001, in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) of the 1st sub-article of the Criminal Code.