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Nadiem Makarim is accused of profiting from the government’s decision to buy Google Chromebook laptops for Indonesian schools and causing the government a loss of 125 million dollars.
JAKARTA, Indonesia – An Indonesian court on Tuesday, June 30, ruled that Nadiem Makarim, co-founder of the Gojek technology company and former education minister, was guilty of some charges in a corruption case and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.
Makarim, 41, has protested his innocence, saying the case against him is politically motivated – a claim that has drawn support from academics and rights activists.
The verdict has the potential to undermine investor confidence in Indonesia. The rupee and stocks have fallen this year after downgrading views from credit rating agencies on unpredictable policymaking and governance issues, while index maker MSCI is considering whether to downgrade Southeast Asia’s largest economy over market transparency concerns.
Makarim, who served as education minister from 2019 to 2024 under the previous administration of Joko Widodo, was accused of profiting from the government’s decision to buy Google Chromebook laptops for Indonesian schools and causing the government a loss of 125 million dollars.
Chief Justice Purwanto Abdullah, who oversees the decision at the Indonesian Corruption Court in Jakarta, said the panel of judges found Makarim guilty of abuse of power and causing losses to the government.
He was found not guilty of directly seeking to enrich himself.
Makarim was ordered to pay a fine of 1 billion rupiah and to return more than 800 billion rupiah ($45 million), which the judges said was the amount he personally gained from the contract.
Failure to repay the money would add another five years to his prison sentence, the judges said.
Surrounded by family and friends, Nadiem said he will appeal against the decision.
“I was convicted on facts that made no sense,” Makarim said through tears after the trial, adding that he was unable to pay the amount ordered by the judges. “The judges couldn’t even look me in the eye.”
Prosecutors alleged that Google’s investment in Gojek’s parent company influenced the purchase decision and that Makarim created tender specifications that only fit the Chrome system “to make Google the sole regulator of the education system in Indonesia”.
Google was not charged.
Makarim has disputed the claims, saying there was no personal enhancement and that Google’s investment in Gojek’s parent company was not connected to the acquisition.
He said the case may have been fueled by the major reforms he made during his tenure as education minister that reduced long-standing opportunities for corruption such as “training rackets, middlemen and budget leakage”, while admitting that his leadership style at the time was feathered. – Rappler.com
