Chromebook Graft Case: Ex-Minister Nadiem Makarim Put Under House Arrest
Reporter
May 12, 2026 | 07:10 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Panel of Judges of the Jakarta Corruption Court has granted the suspension of the detention of former Indonesian Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Nadiem Makarim. Now, the founder of PT Gojek Indonesia is under house arrest.
The Chief Judge Purwanto Abdullah read the decision during a hearing held on Monday, May 11, 2026. "Granting the request of the defendant's legal counsel to transfer the type of detention of the defendant Nadiem Makarim from detention center to house arrest," said Purwanto.
In the decision, Purwanto ordered the Central Jakarta Prosecutor's Office to transfer Nadiem's detention to his home at The Residence at Dharmawangsa 2, South Jakarta, effective from May 12, 2026.
Previously, Nadiem requested the panel of judges to change his detention status from a detention center to house arrest or city detention while undergoing health recovery. "Only until I recover, after which I am willing to return to being detained in a detention center, it's not a problem. This is just so I can recover," said Nadiem in the witness examination at the Corruption Court of the Central Jakarta District Court, Monday, May 4, 2026.
Nadiem's lawyer, Zaid Mushafi, conveyed that the transfer of detention status is necessary because his client needs a sterile place post-operation. "This way, future court agendas will not be disrupted by this health recovery process," said Zaid in the same opportunity.
Previously, the public prosecutor (JPU) charged Nadiem with committing corruption offenses together with former consultant of the Ministry of Education and Culture Research and Technology, Ibrahim Arief, Director of Primary Education of the Ministry of Education and Culture Research and Technology for the 2020-2021 period, Sri Wahyuningsih, former Director of Junior High School of the Ministry of Education and Culture Research and Technology, Mulyatsyah, and former special staff of the Minister of Education and Culture Research and Technology, Jurist Tan.
In the indictment, the prosecutor mentioned that Nadiem established an online transportation business company called Gojek through PT Gojek Indonesia in 2010 with a 99 percent ownership stake worth Rp99 million. To develop the online transportation business, in 2015 Nadiem and Andre Soelistyo established a foreign capital company named PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (PT AKAB). They then partnered with Google to collaborate in using Google Maps, Google Cloud, and Google Workspace applications used in Gojek's business.
In 2017, Google invested in PT AKAB by injecting a capital of USD 99,998,555. Two years later, Google again injected a capital of USD 349,999,459 into PT AKAB.
Still in the prosecutor's indictment, Nadiem and his colleagues carried out the procurement of information and communication technology-based learning tools in the form of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) in the 2020, 2021, and 2022 fiscal years. Through the procurement, Chromebook laptops could not be optimally used in remote, frontier, and outermost (3T) areas because their operation requires internet connection. Meanwhile, internet access in 3T areas is very limited.
The prosecutor stated that Nadiem and his colleagues' actions resulted in state financial losses amounting to Rp2,189,276,341,446.74 or around Rp2.18 trillion. The losses consist of the overpriced Chromebook worth Rp1,567,888,662,719.74 or Rp1.56 trillion and the procurement of unnecessary and ineffective Chrome Device Management worth US$44,054,426 or around Rp621,387,678,730 or Rp621.38 billion. Nadiem was accused of receiving benefits amounting to Rp809,596,125,000 or Rp809.59 billion.
Read: New Testimony in Nadiem's Alleged Chromebook Corruption Case
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