Nadiem Claims Prosecutors Monitored Chromebook Procurement
JAKARTA - Former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Makarim stated that prosecutors monitored the procurement process for Chromebook-based laptops from beginning to end in 2019-2020.
“This is a procurement where we invited the prosecutor’s office to monitor and oversee it from start to finish. Even in the room where the PPK (Commitment Making Official) clicked on the procurement, there was a prosecutor to accompany,” Nadiem said on the sidelines of the trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday (30/3/2026).
Nadiem stated that as minister, he was not involved in the procurement process, but he believes the prosecutor’s office provided accompaniment.
Nadiem also claimed to have requested the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) to audit the ministry he previously led.
“And the report (audit results) is thick, hundreds of pages stating that there were no pricing inaccuracies, no unreasonable prices, that was in 2023 and 2024,” he said.
“Suddenly, I was detained by the prosecutor’s office, after that a report from BPKP came out saying there was overpricing of the total laptop price amounting to Rp 1.5 trillion,” Nadiem said.
“Imagine how sad and shocked I was when I learned that two institutions I invited to accompany turned out to imprison me. Then legitimise state losses,” he stated.
Head of the Attorney General’s Office Legal Information Centre Anang Supriatna denied that prosecutors were involved in overseeing the Chromebook procurement.
“That’s not true, prosecutor lawyers accompanied the process but also provided legal advice which was then not heeded by the ministry team, because of that the accompaniment service was closed,” Anang said when confirmed by Kompas.com on Monday.
Director of Prosecution at the Attorney General’s Office, Riono Budisantoso, said something similar.
Riono explained that prosecutors in the civil and state administrative law (DATUN) field only provided legal accompaniment as requested by the ministry, not carrying out monitoring functions.
“Prosecutors in the DATUN field did not monitor or oversee activities, so it is clear the defendant misunderstood the role of prosecutors or the prosecutor’s office that provided accompaniment in the field of civil law and state administrative law,” Riono said.
He emphasised that the input or opinions given by the Attorney General’s Office are not binding and do not have to be followed by the ministry requesting accompaniment.