Nadiem Makarim's Chromebook Graft Sentence Cut to 9 Years

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta High Court has reduced the prison sentence of former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Makarim in the Chromebook procurement corruption case from 10 years to 9 years. The appellate ruling was delivered on Thursday, September 24, 2026.

"To impose a prison sentence of nine years on the Defendant Nadiem Anwar Makarim," the presiding judge stated during the ruling.

The High Court panel also upheld a fine of Rp1 billion against Nadiem. However, should the fine remain unpaid, the subsidiary prison term was reduced to 140 days.

The appellate panel also revised the restitution amount Nadiem is required to pay, lowering it to Rp548.76 billion from the initial Rp809.59 billion ordered by the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court. "In the event that the defendant lacks sufficient assets to pay the restitution, the defendant will serve 6 years in prison," the judge ruled.

Nadiem's defense counsel filed an appeal against the 10-year prison sentence handed to their client in the Chromebook and Chrome Device Management (CDM) procurement case at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology spanning the 2019–2022 period. The legal team submitted the appeal electronically to the Central Jakarta District Court. The court subsequently recorded the filing under Appeal Deed Registration Number 50/Akta.Pid.Sus/TPK/2026/PN Jkt.Pst dated Wednesday, July 1, 2026.

"We believe that the undisputed trial facts, which were unfortunately not proportionally considered in the initial ruling, will receive a fairer assessment at the appellate level," said Nadiem's lead defense attorney, Ari Yusuf Amir, when contacted on Wednesday.

The appeal documentation obtained by Tempo lists attorney Rifkho Achmad Bawazir on Nadiem Makarim's legal team as having submitted the electronic filing to the Acting Registrar of the Central Jakarta District Court, Hartanto. The appeal challenged the verdict delivered by the Anti-Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court on June 30, 2026, under Case Number 147/Pid.Sus-TPK/2025/PN Jkt.Pst.

Presiding Judge Purwanto S. Abdullah had sentenced former Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Minister Nadiem Makarim to 10 years in prison. Alongside the prison term, the judge ordered Nadiem to pay a fine of Rp1 billion. Should the fine go unpaid, Nadiem was ordered to serve an alternative prison sentence of 190 days. "Imposing an additional penalty of restitution amounting to Rp809,597,125,000 (Rp809.59 billion)," Purwanto stated while reading the verdict on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.

The judge also ruled that should Nadiem fail to pay the restitution, the state would seize and auction his assets. In the event that asset proceeds prove insufficient, the judge ruled that the restitution would be substituted with a five-year prison term.

Prosecutors accused Nadiem of enriching himself by Rp809.59 billion in the procurement case involving Chromebooks and Chrome Device Management at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology over the 2019–2022 period. Prosecutors also alleged that Nadiem enriched 12 private firms serving as Chromebook vendors.

According to prosecutors, Nadiem selected Chromebooks strictly to advance his personal commercial interests, incentivizing Google to expand its investment and funding in PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (AKAB), a company he founded. Following the merger of Gojek and Tokopedia in 2021, PT AKAB rebranded as PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia. Google was registered as one of Gojek's long-standing corporate partners prior to its merger with Tokopedia.

Prosecutors estimated that the Chromebook procurement incurred state financial losses totaling Rp2.18 trillion. That figure comprises Rp1.56 trillion from Chromebook laptop procurements based on Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) audit findings, alongside US$44.05 million (equivalent to Rp621.38 billion at lowest period exchange rates from August 2020 to December 2022) resulting from Chrome Device Management procurement.