Indonesian prosecutors have alleged that Nadiem Anwar Makarim—co-founder of ride-hailing firm Gojek, who was also a minister in former president Joko Widodo’s cabinet—received around 809 billion rupiah ($48.5 million) in connection with the ministry’s controversial Chromebook procurement programme, show court filings.
The allegation emerged during the trial of Sri Wahyuningsih, a former official at the ministry’s primary education directorate, who is facing charges related to irregularities in the procurement of laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) services between 2020 and 2021—a corruption scandal dubbed ‘Chromebookgate’.
“Enriching oneself, another person, or a corporation, namely defendant Nadiem Anwar Makarim, in the amount of Rp 809,596,125,000,” prosecutor Roy Riady said while reading Wahyuningsih’s indictment, according to local media reports.
The prosecutor alleged she committed this crime in collusion with three other defendants, Nadiem, Mulyatsyah, Ibrahim Arief, and Jurist Tan, who is still a fugitive.
Prosecutors allege the procurement process caused an estimated loss of 2.1 trillion rupiah ($126 million) to the state, due to weaknesses in planning, pricing evaluation, and technical assessment. The Chromebook devices were allegedly unsuitable for use in many regions within the country, particularly areas with limited internet connectivity.
The Chromebook programme—originally part of Indonesia’s 9.9 trillion rupiah digital education push during the pandemic—has been under intense scrutiny since early this year, when the country’s Attorney General’s Office (AGO) named Nadiem as one of the suspects in the graft case. Nadiem was the minister for education, culture, research and technology between 2019 and 2023.
In the indictment, prosecutors claimed part of the losses involved unlawful benefits flowing to several parties, including Nadiem.
The former minister has been formally named in the case and is expected to face a separate reading of charges, though proceedings have been delayed until next week as he is currently hospitalised, according to the prosecution.
Nadiem and the other accused have been in detention since September 4. His legal team has previously denied the allegations, stating that he did not personally receive any funds from the Chromebook procurement and that the process complied with prevailing regulations.
Prosecutors alleged that Nadiem’s personal gain stemmed from Google’s investments in PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (AKAB), Gojek’s parent company, via PT Gojek Indonesia.
“The source of PT AKAB’s funds largely came from Google’s total investment in PT AKAB amounting to $786,999,428,” the prosecutor said, adding that this was reflected in Nadiem’s reported wealth. His 2022 State Officials’ Wealth Report (LHKPN) showed the acquisition of securities valued at Rp 5.59 trillion, the indictment stated.
Prosecutors further detailed several investments made by Google during the procurement period. In March 2020, Nadiem allegedly directed the use of Google Workspace for Education at the education ministry, a directive he conveyed through a WhatsApp group named ‘Merdeka Platform’, which included members of the government’s GovTech team, also known as Warung Teknologi.
In the same month, Google Asia Pacific Pte Ltd invested $59.9 million in PT AKAB, prosecutors alleged. This was followed by another investment of $276.8 million in 2021, after Nadiem signed a regulation designating Google products as the sole option in certain ICT procurements, according to the indictment.
The defendants face charges under Article 2(1) and Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law No. 31/1999, as amended by Law No. 20/2001 on the Eradication of Corruption, in conjunction with Article 55(1) of the Criminal Code.
