Jakarta, ThedailyID — The legal team of Nadiem Makarim insisted that corruption allegations against the former education minister remain unproven despite prosecutors demanding a total sentence equivalent to 27.5 years in prison.
The demand came in the Chromebook procurement corruption case linked to the Education Ministry’s digitalization program.
According to prosecutors, Nadiem faces 18 years in prison. He also faces an additional nine years tied to substitute penalties over compensation payments.
Nadiem’s lawyers argued that prosecutors failed to prove their core allegations during the trial.
They claimed there was no evidence showing Nadiem personally received corruption funds from the Chromebook procurement project.
“Not a single rupiah was received by Nadiem,” lawyer Dodi S. Abdulkadir previously said while defending his client.
The defense team also argued that procurement decisions were handled by technical officials inside the ministry rather than directly by the minister himself.
According to the lawyers, the Chromebook policy had passed internal studies and multiple evaluations before implementation.
Meanwhile, prosecutors accused Nadiem of causing state losses through the Chromebook procurement program between 2020 and 2022.
The prosecution also demanded Rp5.6 trillion in replacement payments. Prosecutors argued that part of Nadiem’s wealth did not match his legal income during his time in office.
After the hearing, Nadiem expressed disappointment over the sentence demand.
“Why is my sentence demand bigger than murderers and terrorists?” Nadiem said after the trial.
The case has continued drawing public attention due to the size of the sentence demand and the debate surrounding Indonesia’s education digitalization program.
