Sentenced to 10 Years, Nadiem: All Court Facts Were Ignored

Former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for the 2019–2024 period, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, has stated that the prison sentence handed down to him was based on illogical facts. Nadiem highlighted a difference of opinion among the judges. “Today we pose a huge question to our legal system. Does truth and justice still mean anything? Today we have our answer: all the court facts were ignored,” Nadiem told the media after the verdict hearing at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday (30/6/2026). Nadiem said that during the verdict hearing, he listened to the judges speak, but the four judges who sentenced him to 10 years in prison could not look him in the eye. He stated he knew the judges’ hearts understood he was innocent. However, the truth emerged from one other judge who had the courage to express the actual facts of the trial. “There was one dissenting opinion, Judge Andi, who laid out the truth straightforwardly and stated I should be acquitted unconditionally,” he said. In the alleged corruption case involving the digitalisation of education programme, specifically the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) within the Ministry of Education and Culture from 2019–2022, Nadiem was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of corruption. In addition to the prison sentence, he was also fined Rp1 billion, subsidiary to 190 days imprisonment, and ordered to pay restitution of Rp809.59 billion, subsidiary to 5 years imprisonment. The restitution was imposed after he was proven to have received Rp809.59 billion from PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (PT AKAB) through PT Gojek Indonesia. It was stated that the majority of PT AKAB’s funds originated from a Google investment worth USD 786.99 million. In this case, Nadiem was proven to have abused his authority, causing state losses of Rp1.56 trillion. The corruption allegedly involved the procurement of information and communication technology-based learning tools, specifically Chromebook laptops and CDM, for the 2020, 2021, and 2022 fiscal years, which did not comply with procurement planning and principles. The actions of the founder of a technology company were declared to have been carried out together with three other defendants who had been sentenced in separate trials, namely Ibrahim Arief alias Ibam, Mulyatsyah, and Sri Wahyuningsih, as well as Jurist Tan, who remains a fugitive. Thus, the former Minister of Education and Culture was found to have violated criminal provisions stipulated in Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended and supplemented by Law Number 20 of 2001 in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph (1) 1 of the Criminal Code.