Unaccepting of 4-Year Prison Sentence in Chromebook Case, Ibam to Appeal
Former IT Consultant for the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Ibrahim Arief alias Ibam, has been sentenced to four years in prison in the corruption case involving the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM). Ibam rejects the sentence and intends to challenge it through an appeal.
“We firmly state that the legal team will file an appeal within the seven-day period as stipulated by the applicable criminal procedure law in Indonesia. We are pursuing this to fight for true justice for our client,” said Ibam’s lawyer, Arfian Bondjol, during a press conference in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, on Wednesday (13/4/2026).
Arfian stated that they still respect the legal process. However, he expressed disappointment and concern over the decision.
Arfian appreciated the differing opinions or dissenting opinions from two judges. According to him, the two judges made a comprehensive assessment.
“Once again, we extend our highest appreciation to member judge Andi Saputra and member judge Eryusman. The dissenting opinion was read by Judge Andi Saputra and was compiled based on three very comprehensive clusters of analysis,” he said.
Arfian also intends to file a request for re-examination of witnesses. He requests that certain witnesses be re-examined at the Jakarta High Court.
“And on this occasion, we will also file a request for re-examination at the Jakarta High Court. So, we are not only requesting an appeal, but we will also file a request for re-examination of this case at the Jakarta High Court,” he stated.
Meanwhile, Ibam stated that he will continue to seek justice. He claims to be innocent in this case.
“So this aligns perfectly with my goal of why I am striving so hard to seek justice, because I do not want this to set a very bad precedent for the country where a consultant who has been proven not to receive anything, has no authority in the ministry, and as stated in the dissenting opinion, there is indeed no conflict of interest at all and so on,” said Ibam, who has been under city detention due to his health condition.
In the trial held on Tuesday (13/5), the judge imposed a sentence on Ibam of four years’ imprisonment and a fine of Rp 500 million, subsidiary 120 days’ imprisonment. The judge stated that Ibam was guilty of violating Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of the Corruption Eradication Law in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph 1 (1) of the Criminal Code.
In this case, Nadiem and others are accused of corruption related to the procurement of Chromebook laptops while serving as Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. The project is said to have caused a state loss of Rp 2.1 trillion.
Prosecutors stated that the calculation of state losses of Rp 2.1 trillion comes from the overpricing of Chromebooks amounting to Rp 1,567,888,662,716.74 (1.5 trillion). Then, the procurement of unnecessary and non-beneficial CDM amounting to USD 44,054,426 or equivalent to approximately Rp 621,387,678,730.00 (621 billion).
Besides Nadiem and Ibam, there are two other defendants in this case. They are Sri Wahyuningsih, former Director of Primary Schools in the Directorate General of Early Childhood Education, Basic Education, and Secondary Education in 2020-2021; and Mulyatsyah, former Director of Junior High Schools in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology in 2020. Sri has been sentenced to four years in prison, while Mulyatsyah received 4.5 years in prison.