Nadiem Makarim's appeal hearing set for 5 August, open to public

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The appeal hearing for defendant Nadiem Anwar Makarim will be held at the DKI Jakarta High Court on Wednesday, 5 August.

DKI Jakarta High Court spokesperson Catur Iriantoro stated that the hearing will be presided over by Chief Judge Subachran Hardi Mulyana, accompanied by panel judges Catur Iriantoro and Hotma Maya Marbun. “The first hearing is open to the public,” Catur told reporters in Jakarta on Thursday.

The former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for the 2019-2024 period officially registered his appeal against the Chromebook case verdict at the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday, 8 July.

Nadiem’s lawyer, Zaid Mushafi, said that in the submitted appeal memorandum, his team criticised various considerations made by the judges in the ruling that implicated his client. “In our appeal, we request that the high court judges retry the case and re-examine the facts that were considered by the first-level court,” Zaid said after submitting the appeal memorandum.

He elaborated on one of the contested judicial considerations, which concerned the granting of a power of attorney for the management of Nadiem’s shares in PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (AKAB) and PT Gojek Indonesia to another party. According to him, Nadiem’s granting of the power of attorney was actually a form of avoiding conflicts of interest in the procurement process, but the panel of judges assessed that the power of attorney was merely a formality used to protect a conflict of interest.

He claimed that during the trial, all witnesses and evidence examined explicitly stated that Nadiem never gave any orders to the proxy holder. “There is no material evidence stating there were orders or coordination. There was no permission or notification regarding the granting of the power of attorney. That is why this is one part of the appeal memorandum we submitted,” he said.

Not only Nadiem, but the Attorney General’s Office also decided to file an appeal against the Corruption Court’s verdict that sentenced Nadiem to 10 years in prison in the Chromebook procurement corruption case. “The prosecution team has received a copy of the verdict from the Corruption Court and today the prosecution team has declared an appeal against the case,” said the Head of the Attorney General’s Legal Information Centre, Anang Supriatna, in Jakarta on Thursday (2/7).

Anang said one of the considerations in the appeal memorandum would be the house arrest status currently being served by Nadiem. In the alleged corruption case involving the digitalisation of education programme through the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for the 2019-2022 period, Nadiem was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of corruption.

In addition to the prison sentence, he was also fined Rp1 billion, subsidiary to 190 days imprisonment, and ordered to pay restitution of Rp809.59 billion, subsidiary to 5 years imprisonment. The restitution was imposed on Nadiem after it was proven that he received Rp809.59 billion originating from PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (PT AKAB) through PT Gojek Indonesia. The majority of PT AKAB’s funds came from a Google investment worth 786.99 million US dollars.

In this case, Nadiem was proven to have abused his authority, causing state losses of Rp1.56 trillion. The corruption was carried out, among other things, by procuring information and communication technology-based learning facilities in the form of Chromebook laptops and CDM for the 2020, 2021, and 2022 fiscal years, which did not comply with procurement planning and principles.

The actions of the technology company founder were declared to have been carried out together with three other defendants who had been sentenced in separate trials, namely Ibrahim Arief alias Ibam, Mulyatsyah, and Sri Wahyuningsih, as well as Jurist Tan, who remains at large. Thus, Nadiem was proven to have violated the criminal provisions stipulated in Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Corruption as amended and supplemented by Law Number 20 of 2001 in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) 1 of the Criminal Code.