Nadiem Sentenced to 10 Years for Premeditated Corruption in Chromebook Procurement
The panel of judges at the Central Jakarta District Court sentenced former Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim to 10 years in prison on Monday, ruling that his actions in a Chromebook procurement corruption case were premeditated. The verdict was delivered after the court found Nadiem guilty as charged under the subsidiary indictment.
‘Declares that the defendant Nadiem Anwar Makarim has been legally and convincingly proven guilty of committing a criminal act of corruption jointly, as stipulated in the subsidiary indictment,’ said presiding judge Purwanto S Abdullah while reading the verdict. ‘Sentences the defendant Nadiem Anwar Makarim to 10 years in prison.’
The court ruled that the primary indictment was not proven. Nadiem was found guilty under the subsidiary indictment, violating Article 604 in conjunction with Article 18 of the Corruption Eradication Law, in conjunction with Article 20 letter c of Law Number 1 of 2023 concerning the Criminal Code. The judge also sentenced Nadiem to pay a fine of Rp 1 billion, with a subsidiary penalty of 190 days in prison.
In addition to the prison sentence, Nadiem was ordered to pay restitution of Rp 809.5 billion. If the restitution is not paid within one month after the verdict becomes legally binding, his assets will be seized and auctioned. Should his assets be insufficient, the penalty will be replaced with an additional 5 years of imprisonment.
The judge detailed the basis for the restitution calculation, explaining that Nadiem issued Minister of Education and Culture Regulation Number 5 of 2021 to benefit Google. The regulation specified Chrome OS and Chromebook procurement worth over Rp 1.5 trillion, making Google the sole fundamental beneficiary. Following this policy, Google realised an investment of USD 69 into PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (AKAB), a company founded by Nadiem, in August 2021, as part of a total investment reaching USD 786,000.
The court stated the temporal and substantive correlation between the policy favouring Google and the investment flow into Nadiem’s corporate system was not a coincidence but a deliberate act. The investment allowed PT AKAB to inject capital of Rp 809.5 billion into PT Gojek Indonesia, which was then used to settle a loan agreement, creating a clear causal chain from the corrupt policy to the flow of funds into Nadiem’s corporate ecosystem.
While the court rejected the prosecutors’ demand for an additional Rp 4.8 trillion in restitution, it recommended that the Attorney General’s Office investigate this sum through a separate money laundering case. The panel of judges stated that the rejection was due to the incorrect legal avenue chosen in the current case, not a denial of the existence of disproportionate assets.
In its ruling, the court highlighted aggravating factors, stating that Nadiem’s actions were premeditated, structured, and systematic, causing massive state losses and impacting education for children in underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost regions. The judge noted that his actions contradicted the government’s commitment to eradicating corruption and that as a minister with a very affluent economic background, he had no economic justification for abusing his position.