What Is Next for Nadiem Makarim After Sentence Reduction?
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Nadiem Makarim, former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, will file a cassation appeal against the High Court's verdict in the Chromebook procurement corruption case.
In its ruling delivered on Thursday, September 24, 2026, the appellate panel reduced Nadiem's prison term from 10 years to nine years. "We will file a cassation appeal as soon as possible," Nadiem told reporters following the verdict reading.
He stated that he will not back down and refuses to accept any outcome other than a full acquittal. "This struggle has been long, and of course, I have faced various obstacles," he remarked.
The High Court panel upheld the Rp1 billion fine imposed on Nadiem. Should the fine remain unpaid, the subsidiary prison term was reduced to 140 days.
The appellate judges also modified the restitution amount required of Nadiem. Nadiem was ordered to pay Rp548.76 billion in restitution, a reduction from the Jakarta Anti-Corruption Court's earlier order of Rp809.59 billion. "In the event that the defendant lacks sufficient assets to pay the restitution, the defendant will serve 6 years in prison," the judge said.
Nadiem's legal team previously challenged the 10-year prison sentence handed down in the procurement case involving Chromebooks and Chrome Device Management (CDM) at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology in the 2019–2022 period.
In the first-instance trial, the courtsentenced Nadiem to 10 years of imprisonment and a fine of Rp1 billion. If the fine was unpaid, Nadiem faced an alternative prison term of 190 days.
The trial judge ruled that if Nadiem failed to pay the restitution, the state could seize and auction his assets. If his assets fell short of the restitution amount, the judge imposed an alternative five-year prison term.
Prosecutors accused Nadiem of enriching himself by Rp809.59 billion in the 2019–2022 Chromebook and Chrome Device Management procurement project, while allegedly enriching 12 private corporate vendors supplying the Chromebook devices.
According to the prosecution, Nadiem selected Chromebooks primarily to advance his commercial interests, encouraging Google to increase its investment and funding in PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (AKAB), a company he founded. Following the 2021 merger between Gojek and Tokopedia, PT AKAB rebranded as PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia. Google had been a long-standing business partner of Gojek prior to its merger with Tokopedia.
Prosecutors estimated that the Chromebook procurement project caused state financial losses of Rp2.18 trillion. The total includes Rp1.56 trillion from Chromebook laptop procurement based on audit findings by the Finance and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP), alongside US$44.05 million (equivalent to Rp621.38 billion) at the lowest exchange rate between August 2020 and December 2022 due to Chrome Device Management software licensing.
