Prosecutors Allege Nadiem Makarim Used 'Fraud' Strategy in White Collar Crime Scheme

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Public prosecutor Roy Riady from the Attorney General’s Office stated that the alleged white-collar crime scheme was carried out by defendant Nadiem Anwar Makarim through a strategy of fraud. According to the prosecutor, this strategy was implemented after PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (PT AKAB) received money transferred by Google, and Nadiem subsequently approved manipulating records so they did not correspond to the actual transactions. “This is a deviant practice in the form of fraud within corporate action, which is one of the defendant’s methods to avoid tax and disguise the true value of his financial transactions,” the prosecutor said during a hearing for reading the replication or response to the plea at the Corruption Court in Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday. The prosecutor explained that the white-collar crime scheme carried out by Nadiem in the alleged Chromebook corruption case involved crimes committed by a person with high ability and social status in their occupation. It was stated that white-collar crime is a crime committed by a person with high and honourable social standing in their occupation. The crime encompasses not only corruption offences but also other types of crime such as occupational crime, economic crime, and corporate crime. The prosecutor revealed three strategies used by white-collar crime perpetrators. First, fraud, carried out by manipulating regulations, outwitting financial reports, misleading tax obligations, engineering regulations, to circumventing the law so that their actions appear legal. Second, the prosecutor also mentioned layering or disguising methods. “This disguise is carried out in various ways, such as creating shell companies and cross-border locus delicti, as well as creating or splitting subsidiaries, fictitious businesses, and charitable foundations as money laundering pockets,” said the prosecutor. The prosecutor added that the third is image building. This step is taken so that the perpetrator no longer appears evil but instead portrays themselves as a good person. It was explained that the instruments are deployed by influencing mass media and, if necessary, buying or owning those mass media. In line with developments, the prosecutor continued, social media is also used as effectively as possible because it directly enters each individual’s device. Furthermore, in the image-building strategy, white-collar criminals are often actively involved in social or political organisations to boost their image as a moral person. “In fact, if necessary, they purchase votes in order to become a public official. Not stopping there, medals of honour or awards, when needed, will be swept up with the sole purpose of creating a positive image in society,” the prosecutor revealed. If the actions of fraud, layering, and image-building are carried out effectively, the prosecutor argued that when the white-collar criminal is arrested and processed criminally, they will still be seen as a hero who was ‘set up’. Therefore, the prosecutor stressed that several enforcement strategies must be directed at targeting these three white-collar crime strategies. It was emphasised that all necessary regulations currently exist and what remains is a shared commitment to eradicating corruption, including white-collar crime. Nadiem was implicated as one of the defendants in the alleged corruption case involving the education digitalisation programme for the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) within the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology for the 2019–2022 period. The former Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology for the 2019–2024 period was previously sentenced to 18 years in prison, a fine of Rp1 billion subsidiary to 190 days imprisonment, and restitution of Rp5.67 trillion subsidiary to 9 years imprisonment. In the case, he was charged with corruption causing state financial losses totalling Rp2.18 trillion. The corruption was allegedly carried out, among other ways, by executing the procurement of information and communication technology-based learning tools in the form of Chromebook laptops and CDM for the 2020, 2021, and 2022 budget years, not in accordance with procurement planning and principles. The actions of the founder of a technology company were allegedly 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. In detail, the resulting state losses include Rp1.56 trillion related to the education digitalisation programme at the Ministry of Education and Culture, and USD 44.05 million, equivalent to Rp621.39 billion, arising from the procurement of CDM that was unnecessary and not beneficial to the education digitalisation programme. Through these actions, Nadiem allegedly received money amounting to Rp809.59 billion originating from PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (PT AKAB) through PT Gojek Indonesia. It was mentioned that most of PT AKAB’s funding sources came from a Google investment worth USD 786.99 million. This can be seen from Nadiem’s wealth recorded in the State Administrators’ Wealth Report (LHKPN) in 2022, where there was an acquisition of assets in the form of securities worth Rp5.59 trillion. For his actions, the former Minister of Education and Culture faces criminal penalties stipulated in Article 2 paragraph (1) or Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of Corruption as amended and supplemented by Law Number 20 of 2001 in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) point 1 of the Criminal Code.