Prosecutor Roy Argues 'People Can Lie, But Evidence Doesn't' After Indicting Nadiem

The prosecutor has indicted former Minister of Education and Culture, Nadiem Makarim, with an 18-year prison sentence, a 1 billion Rupiah fine, and an order to pay 5.6 trillion Rupiah in restitution. The prosecutor believes that the electronic evidence in this case is irrefutable.

As compiled by detikcom on Friday (May 15, 2026), the trial of Nadiem’s indictment was held at the Central Jakarta Corruption Court on Wednesday (May 13). After the trial, the public prosecutor, Roy Riadi, said that this case was processed based on evidence and facts presented during the trial.

“The facts of the trial are based on evidence, not on perceptions or opinions, right? What is the evidence? First, we presented dozens of witnesses, and we know that the defendant, through his legal counsel, also presented witnesses,” said Roy.

He said that the team of prosecutors had presented experts. He said that Nadiem’s side had also brought experts to the trial.

Next, the prosecutor brought electronic evidence. He said that electronic evidence is important in the judicial process because it cannot lie.

“We presented the most important electronic evidence. Why do I say that this electronic evidence is very important in the criminal evidentiary process in this day and age? What I said is that this is what will be compared with the actual facts. People can lie, but electronic evidence cannot lie,” he said.

He said that the prosecutor also brought evidence in the form of documents, such as letters and audit results from the BPKP (Supreme Audit Agency).

He said that the evidence presented in court was obtained in accordance with the rules.

“The evidence in the form of letters from the BPKP audit and from the forensic results of the confiscated cell phones. There are cell phones, namely the cell phones of the technical team, Ibrahim Arif’s cell phone and Fiona Handayani’s cell phone. Then from the testimony of the defendant and the evidence and everything we present as evidence obtained legally. Next, from the facts of the trial that emerged from the evidence, we analyzed it into a legal fact,” he said.

He said that there were 70 facts of the trial presented. Starting from the process of procuring Chromebooks to calculating the financial losses to the state.

“We believe that from this analysis, the primary indictment, that the defendant’s actions have been proven,” he said.

Nadiem was previously indicted with an 18-year prison sentence, a 1 billion Rupiah fine, and an order to pay 5.6 trillion Rupiah in restitution, or 9 years in prison. The prosecutor believes that Nadiem is guilty in the laptop corruption case. The prosecutor also said that Nadiem could not prove the origin of the 4.8 trillion Rupiah in assets.

Nadiem has expressed his disappointment with the prosecutor’s indictment. He said that his assets were obtained legally from business processes.

“That 4 trillion Rupiah, 809 billion Rupiah, that’s the SPT (Annual Tax Return), 4 trillion Rupiah was taken from my SPT in 2022. I reported the value of the Gojek IPO, that’s not money I received, that’s just the value of the IPO. So from there it was taken, okay now it has to be paid back. What’s the logic? The same with 809 billion Rupiah, that has nothing to do with me. It has been proven that there was a transfer between two Gojek companies. I was not involved, it has nothing to do with Google, it has nothing to do with Chromebook,” he said.