A former Indonesian minister has been accused of corruption for improperly purchasing Google laptops

Indonesian prosecutors filed corruption charges on Monday (January 5), accusing former education minister and co-founder of ride-hailing company Gojek, Nadiem Makarim, of improperly purchasing laptops during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in a loss of 125.64 million US dollars for the country.

Reuters reported that Nadim stepped down as CEO of Gojek in 2019 to take up the position of Minister of Education, with a term lasting until 2024.

In the first trial, the prosecution stated that Nadim was accused of embezzling approximately 809 billion Indonesian rupiah between 2020 and 2022 by purchasing Chromebook laptops and the Chrome operating system for schools.

The prosecution pointed out that the bidding regulations formulated by Nadim only apply to the Chrome system, with the aim of "making Google the sole controller of the Indonesian education ecosystem".

Nadim could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. His lawyer, Ali, told reporters that Nadim denied any misconduct. The prosecution's charges lack strong evidence and they will request the court to dismiss the charges.

Investigators from the Attorney General's Office arrested Nadim and several senior officials from the Ministry of Education in September.

The prosecutor told the court that although the Ministry of Education had determined as early as 2018 that Chromebook laptops needed to be connected to the Internet, the Internet penetration rate in remote areas of Indonesia was very low, so these laptops were not suitable, but they were still purchased.

The prosecution said that Nadim met with representatives of Google's Asia-Pacific region and Google Indonesia on multiple occasions in 2020. His lawyer denied that his client had met with representatives of Google.

The prosecution pointed out that around the same time, Google made an additional investment of 59 million US dollars in PT AKAB, the then parent company of Gojek.

According to Nadim's property report submitted to the state in 2022, his wealth increased by 809 billion Indonesian rupiah due to AKAB, and the majority of AKAB's funds came from a total investment of 787 million US dollars by Google.

The indictment shows that the Ministry of Education's tender this time has benefited at least 10 companies.