Prosecutors Refute Nadiem Makarim's Plea: Highlighted the Inflated Price of Chromebooks and Mens Rea

The Public Prosecutor (JPU) has given a firm response to the defense plea (pleidoi) submitted by former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Mendikbudristek), Nadiem Makarim. In the trial at the Central Jakarta Corruption Court, the prosecutor emphasized that this alleged corruption case regarding the procurement of Chromebooks is purely a law enforcement measure without political intervention.

JPU Parade Hutasoit stated that although they respect the defendant’s right to defend himself, there are many narratives in Nadiem’s 16-page plea and the 1,334-page plea from his legal team that are considered inconsistent with the facts of the trial.

“We still respect the trial, even though we see that the legal counsel has several times used narratives that are basically not based on facts and two pieces of evidence,” said Parade in a written statement, Thursday (June 4, 2026).

One of the crucial points highlighted by the prosecutor is Nadiem’s claim regarding state savings of IDR 3.9 trillion through the education digitalization project. Parade assessed that this argument contradicts Nadiem’s previous statement that he did not initiate the project.

Furthermore, the prosecutor presented findings regarding the significant price difference between market prices and procurement prices in the project. Here is a comparison of the price data that emerged in the trial:

In response to the question of why the technology giant Google was not involved in this case, Parade explained that the prosecutor’s focus is on mens rea or personal bad intent. The prosecutor found indications of a conflict of interest leading to a connection with the defendant’s applications, namely Gojek and GoTo.

“We don’t see it as Google having bad intentions, but it lies with Nadiem, who has applications from Gojek or GoTo,” Parade explained.

At the end of his statement, the prosecutor again refuted the existence of a political motive behind the case involving the founder of Gojek. He affirmed that the entire legal process is running according to the corridor of corruption crimes. (Z-1)