finance
Indonesian Court Sentences Former Education Minister to 10 Years, Less Than Prosecutors Sought
An Indonesian corruption court sentenced former Education Minister Nadiem Makarim to 10 years in prison, a 1 billion rupiah fine and 809.6 billion rupiah in restitution. The conviction stems from procurement of Google Chromebooks under the 2019-2022 education digitalization program.
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An Indonesian corruption court on Tuesday sentenced former Education Minister Nadiem Makarim to 10 years in prison for corruption in the procurement of Google Chromebooks for schools. The court also imposed a fine of 1 billion Indonesian rupiah and ordered Makarim to pay 809.6 billion rupiah in restitution. He faces an additional five-year prison term if the restitution is not paid.
Makarim, who served as education minister from 2019 to 2024 and is a co-founder of Gojek, was convicted in connection with the education digitalization program that ran from 2019 to 2022. Indonesia's Attorney General named him a suspect in September 2025.
Prosecutors alleged that Makarim met with Google Indonesia representatives in February 2020 and later issued technical instructions that steered specifications toward ChromeOS products.
They stated that lower-specification Chromebooks should have cost about 3 million rupiah each but were procured for around 6 million rupiah per unit. Prosecutors had sought an 18-year sentence, the same fine and 5.6 trillion rupiah in restitution. Google denied the allegations.
The company stated that the bulk of its investments in Gojek-related entities occurred before Makarim's appointment and that it had not offered benefits to ministry officials in exchange for adopting Google products. Public Prosecutor Roy Riady cited an alleged conflict of interest arising from investment and business debt relationships between the technology provider and a company owned by the defendant.
