Nadiem Makarim Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison

Kapanlagi.com - The panel of judges has sentenced former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Mendikbudristek) Nadiem Anwar Makarim to 10 years in prison in a case of alleged corruption in the procurement of chromebooks.

The sentence is lighter than the prosecutor's demand of 18 years in prison. The verdict was read at the Corruption Court (Tipikor) at the Central Jakarta District Court on Tuesday (30/6/2026). In addition to the prison sentence, Nadiem was also fined Rp 1 billion.

"We sentence the defendant to imprisonment for 10 years," said the Chief Judge, Purwanto S Abdullah, at the Corruption Court in Jakarta on Tuesday (30/6/2026).

1. Allegation

Nadiem is accused of corruption in the education digitalization program at the Ministry of Education and Culture Research and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) from 2019 to 2022, with state losses reaching Rp 2.18 trillion. He is said to have carried out the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) in the 2020, 2021, and 2022 fiscal years without adhering to the planning and procurement principles that should have been followed.

The prosecutor stated that this action was taken together with three other defendants who have already been tried, namely Ibrahim Arief alias Ibam, Mulyatsyah, and Sri Wahyuningsih, as well as one fugitive named Jurist Tan. The details indicate that the state losses consist of Rp 1.56 trillion from the education digitalization program and Rp 621.39 billion from the procurement of CDM, which was deemed unbeneficial.

During this process, Nadiem allegedly received an amount of Rp 809.59 billion that was transferred through PT Gojek Indonesia from PT AKAB. For his actions, he is charged under Article 2 paragraph (1) or Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of the Law on the Eradication of Corruption Crimes and Article 55 paragraph (1) point 1 of the Criminal Code (KUHP).

2. 18-Year Prison Sentence

After hearing the testimonies of witnesses in court, the prosecutor demanded an 18-year prison sentence for Nadiem on May 13, 2026.

The prosecutor stated that Nadiem was proven legally and convincingly guilty of committing corruption in collusion with other defendants in the procurement project for educational devices.

3. Nadiem's Defense

Through his plea, Nadiem denied various accusations directed at him. He emphasized that he never directed his subordinates to choose Chromebooks or colluded in the procurement project.

"The strongest evidence is my private chat with Ibam in August 2020, two months after the technical team decided on Chrome OS," said Nadiem.

Nadiem also questioned the conspiracy allegations made by the prosecutor. According to him, there is no evidence of communication or agreements with other defendants. Nadiem also rejected the conflict of interest allegations related to Google's investment in Gojek. He stated that the investment had no relation to the procurement of Chromebooks.

"This is an important fact that has been obscured in the indictment. The ones benefiting from this procurement are the laptop vendors, not Google," said Nadiem.

(kpl/ums)