Nadiem Shocked as Ibam Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison in Chromebook Corruption Case
Former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Makarim commented on the four-year prison sentence for Ibrahim Arief, alias Ibam, in the corruption case concerning the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM). Nadiem was shocked to hear the verdict.
“I also want to express my concern upon hearing Bang Ibam’s verdict yesterday. It is very sad for me. That an entirely innocent person could be sentenced to four years,” Nadiem said at the Central Jakarta Corruption Court on Wednesday (13/5/2026).
Nadiem prayed for Ibam and his family. He highlighted the differing opinions or dissenting views from panel judges Eryusman and Andi Saputra in Ibam’s verdict.
“My prayers and those of my entire family are for Ibam and his family. But alhamdulillah, there are two judges—it’s rare to see this—two out of five judges opined that Ibam should be freed,” he stated.
Nadiem viewed the dissenting opinion of the judges as indicative of the trial facts. He was shocked that Ibam was not acquitted.
“I am just shocked and stunned that Ibam was not ruled not guilty yesterday. That is something I find very unreasonable,” he said.
In the trial held on Tuesday (13/5), the judges imposed a sentence on Ibam of four years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rp500 million, subsidiary to 120 days’ imprisonment. The judges stated that Ibam was guilty of violating Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of the Corruption Offences Law in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph 1(1) of the Criminal Code.
In this case, Nadiem was charged with corruption related to the procurement of Chromebook laptops during his tenure as Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. The project was said to have caused state losses of Rp2.1 trillion. Prosecutors stated that the calculation of state losses of Rp2.1 trillion stemmed from the overpricing of Chromebooks by Rp1,567,888,662,716.74 (Rp1.5 trillion). Additionally, the procurement of unnecessary and non-beneficial CDM amounted to USD44,054,426 or approximately Rp621,387,678,730 (Rp621 billion).
Besides Nadiem and Ibam, there are two other defendants in this case: Sri Wahyuningsih, former Director of Primary Schools at the Directorate General of Early Childhood Education, Basic Education, and Secondary Education from 2020-2021; and Mulyatsyah, former Director of Junior High Schools at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology in 2020. Sri has been sentenced to four years in prison, and Mulyatsyah to 4.5 years in prison.