Witness: All of Nadiem's Online Meetings as Minister Were Not Allowed to Be Recorded
A secretary at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) for the 2019–2024 period, Deswitha Arvinchi, revealed that Nadiem Makarim had issued an instruction that online meetings were not to be recorded.
She made the disclosure while testifying at the trial for the alleged corruption case involving the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) licences at the Central Jakarta Corruption Court on Tuesday (23 February).
Initially, the public prosecutor asked Deswitha about the technical aspects of online meetings between Kemendikbudristek and Google.
“You also arranged online meetings, Zoom meetings, with Google. How did that come about?” the prosecutor asked.
“Usually, the Minister would issue instructions through an application, or sometimes after reading a request letter, he would message me directly. So there were occasions where he messaged me to schedule a meeting with Google at Google’s request,” Deswitha replied.
The prosecutor then asked about permission to record these online meetings.
“Was there any instruction from the Minister regarding these Zoom meetings? Whether they could be recorded or what the directive was?” the prosecutor asked.
“Indeed, all of the Minister’s online meetings were not recorded, Sir. It wasn’t just this particular meeting — it applied to all his meetings,” Deswitha replied.
Deswitha further stated that she was simply carrying out orders professionally.
“What if you didn’t comply? What if you went against the Minister? ‘I want to record this, Sir,’ for example. You wouldn’t dare do that?” the prosecutor asked.
“I simply worked professionally, Sir,” Deswitha replied.
The hearing was held to examine witnesses, with ten witnesses called to testify, including the Commissioner of PT Gojek Tokopedia Tbk, Andre Sulistyo, and Gojek co-founder Kevin Aluwi.
In this case, Nadiem Makarim is charged with causing state financial losses of Rp2.1 trillion in the alleged corruption case.
The figure comprises Rp1.568 trillion from inflated Chromebook prices and US$44.05 million (approximately Rp621 billion at a rate of Rp14,105 per US dollar) for CDM procurement deemed unnecessary and without benefit.
Nadiem is charged alongside Sri Wahyuningsih, Director of Primary Schools at the Directorate General of Early Childhood, Primary and Secondary Education for 2020–2021; Mulyatsyah, Director of Junior Secondary Schools at Kemendikbudristek in 2020; and Ibrahim Arief, an individual consultant for the School Resource Management Technology Infrastructure Improvement Plan at Kemendikbudristek.
For their actions, the prosecutors have charged Nadiem and co-defendants with violating Article 2 paragraph 1 or Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of the Anti-Corruption Law, in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph 1 point 1 of the Criminal Code.