Prosecutor Responds to Rocky Gerung's Statement on Nadiem's Special Team
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Public prosecutor Roy Riady from the Attorney General’s Office has responded to a statement by academic Rocky Gerung regarding former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Anwar Makarim’s decision to bring in a special team for the Chromebook procurement.
Rocky opined that Nadiem’s action was actually lawful and not criminal, provided the former minister believed there were no sufficiently capable individuals in his ministry for the digitalisation procurement.
In response to the statement, Roy Riady told the media in Jakarta on Monday that the team was instead a means for Nadiem to abuse his authority and force the use of Chromebooks due to Google’s investment for Nadiem’s business interests.
“If Nadiem understands leading bureaucracy, what he should involve are the director generals (dirjen) and directors in the Ministry of Education and Culture who know the needs in schools,” he said.
“This means his policy decision is against the law; there is a business conflict of interest enriching him. If he truly involved the dirjen and directors and accepted input from the technical team,” he added.
On Monday, academic Rocky Gerung, senior actress Christine Hakim, and former Minister of Communication and Information from 2014–2019 Rudiantara attended the trial of the Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Minister from 2019–2024, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, at the Corruption Court in the Central Jakarta District Court, Jakarta.
Approached during a break in the hearing, which was scheduled for the examination of the defendant, Rocky said he attended the trial to observe the proceedings from a legal reasoning perspective.
He gave an example, such as connecting one concern with the Chromebook corruption case.
The concern in question was when Nadiem brought in a special team into the Chromebook procurement.
Rocky opined that Nadiem’s action was actually lawful and not criminal as long as the defendant saw that there were no people with sufficient capacity in his ministry for the digitalisation procurement.
“Prosecutor, I mentioned earlier ‘fatigue’ in turning WhatsApp chatting into ‘What’s Wrong’,” he said.
Corruption is alleged to have occurred through the procurement of information and communication technology-based learning facilities in the form of Chromebooks and CDM in the 2020–2022 fiscal years, which were not in accordance with planning or government procurement principles.
The act is charged as being committed together with three other defendants in separate trials, namely Ibrahim Arief alias Ibam, Mulyatsyah, and Sri Wahyuningsih, as well as Jurist Tan who remains a fugitive.