Not to Offer Support: This Is Why Rocky Gerung Attended Nadiem's Trial
Academic Rocky Gerung has revealed his reason for attending the trial in the alleged corruption case involving the procurement of Chromebooks and Chrome Device Management (CDM) was not to provide support to the defendant Nadiem Anwar Makarim.
Rocky stated that he simply wanted to observe the trial proceedings from the perspective of legal reasoning.
“Not to support. I want to observe the course of the trial from the perspective of legal reasoning,” Rocky said during a break in the trial at the Corruption Court (Tipikor) at the Central Jakarta District Court, on Monday (11/5).
Rocky said that direct observation is necessary to support his role as a teacher.
“I teach legal reasoning. So, I want to know whether this trial is guided by clean legal reasoning or if there are deflections, political agendas, ordered elements, and all sorts of things. That’s what I actually want to test,” he said.
Today’s trial agenda involved the examination of Nadiem as the defendant.
The former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology during the era of Indonesia’s 7th President Joko Widodo claimed that he never decided on the procurement of Chromebook laptops, which prosecutors say caused a state financial loss of Rp2.18 trillion.
Nadiem said all decisions were finalised at the Director General (Dirjen) level or even the Commitment Making Official (PPK) level.
“In the history of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, from previous ministers, the minister has never signed off on laptop or ICT (Information and Communication Technology) specifications,” Nadiem said before the panel of judges.
“That has always been done at the Director General level or even at the Director level, or the Commitment Making Official (PPK) level,” he added.
Nadiem is facing legal proceedings for corruption charges that harmed state finances by Rp2.18 trillion related to the education digitalisation programme involving the procurement of Chromebook laptops and CDM within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology from 2019 to 2022.
The corruption is alleged to have been committed, among other things, by carrying out the procurement of information and communication technology-based learning facilities in the form of Chromebook laptops and CDM for the 2020, 2021, and 2022 fiscal years not in accordance with the procurement planning and procurement principles.
The acts were carried out together with other defendants in separate trials, namely Ibrahim Arief, Mulyatsyah, and Sri Wahyuningsih, as well as Jurist Tan who is currently a fugitive.
In detail, the state losses include Rp1.56 trillion related to the education digitalisation programme at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, as well as US$44.05 million or equivalent to Rp621.39 billion due to the procurement of unnecessary and unbeneficial CDM.
Through these actions, Nadiem is alleged to have received Rp809.59 billion from PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (PT AKAB) via PT Gojek Indonesia. It is stated that most of the funds from PT AKAB came from Google’s investment of US$786.99 million.