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View all search resultsSplit court hands Nadiem 10 years in prison
The Jakarta Corruption Court on Tuesday sentenced former education minister Nadiem Makarim to 10 years in prison and Rp 809 billion (US$45.4 million) in restitution for causing state losses in the procurement of Chromebook laptops during his time in office, an amount Nadiem said he could not afford.
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Nadiem Makarim, former education minister and cofounder of ride-hailing company Gojek, gestures on Tuesday during a verdict hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court in Jakarta in a corruption case related to the procurement of Chromebook laptops for schools during his time in office. (AFP/Yasuyoshi Chiba)
T
he Jakarta Corruption Court sentenced former education minister Nadiem Makarim to 10 years in prison on Tuesday for causing state losses in a case involving the procurement of Chromebook laptops for schools nationwide during his time in office.
The panel of judges found Nadiem guilty of abusing his authority when he approved the tender specifications that were altered to fit only the Chromebooks in the purchase of more than one million laptops between 2020 and 2022 and causing Rp 1.57 trillion (US$87.6 million) in state losses.
“The Chromebook laptop procurement was not optimal because the devices could not be used because of a lack of internet access in many regions in Indonesia,” judge Mediantos said while reading out the verdict, adding that it resulted in the project not generating benefits in line with the amount of the state budget spent.
Although the panel did not find Nadiem, a former tech entrepreneur, guilty of enriching himself through the project, it ordered him to pay a Rp 1 billion fine and Rp 809 billion in restitution. The court gave him a month to return the money or serve another five years in prison, a figure Nadiem described as impossible to pay.
His prison sentence and the restitution were lower than the 18 years and Rp 5.6 trillion sought by Attorney General’s Office (AGO) prosecutors.
However, judge Andi Saputra dissented, saying “it was impossible to draw a conclusion” that Nadiem had harbored criminal intent or was corrupt as he saw no convincing evidence of him covertly prioritizing Google.
Read also: BREAKING: Nadiem gets 10 years in prison in Chromebook corruption case
