An Indonesian anti-corruption court has sentenced former Education Minister Nadiem Makarim to 10 years in prison after finding him guilty in a corruption case linked to the procurement of Google Chromebooks for schools.
Makarim, who served as Indonesia’s education minister from 2019 to 2024 and co-founded ride-hailing and fintech company Gojek, was convicted over the government’s education digitalization programme, which procured Chromebooks for schools between 2019 and 2022.
In addition to the prison sentence, the court imposed a fine of 1 billion Indonesian rupiah (about $55,870) and ordered him to pay 809.6 billion rupiah in restitution. Failure to repay the restitution would result in an additional five-year prison term.
The sentence was lighter than prosecutors had requested. They had sought an 18-year prison term, a 1 billion rupiah fine, and restitution amounting to 5.6 trillion rupiah.
Case Details
The case stems from an investigation launched by Indonesia’s Attorney General, who named Makarim a suspect in September 2025. Prosecutors alleged that he and other officials manipulated technical specifications for information and communication technology (ICT) procurement to favor Google’s ChromeOS ecosystem during the nationwide education digitalization programme.
According to prosecutors, Makarim met with representatives of Google Indonesia in February 2020, after which the ministry decided to adopt ChromeOS and Chrome Device Management (CDM) as the preferred platform for ICT equipment procurement.
Investigators argued that the decision ignored a 2019 assessment conducted under the previous education minister, which concluded that Chromebooks were unsuitable for many parts of Indonesia, particularly remote areas with limited internet connectivity.
Prosecutors further alleged that procurement guidelines were drafted to match only ChromeOS-compatible devices, effectively excluding competing products from the bidding process.
The court also heard allegations that Chromebooks with lower specifications, which should have cost around 3 million rupiah per unit, were purchased for approximately 6 million rupiah each, resulting in significant losses to the state.
Another key aspect of the prosecution’s case involved an alleged conflict of interest arising from Google’s investments in Gojek-related entities. Prosecutors argued that the business relationship created an improper influence over procurement decisions.
Google has consistently denied any wrongdoing. The company said most of its investments in Gojek-related businesses were made before Makarim became education minister and maintained that it never offered inducements to government officials in exchange for adopting its products.
The conviction marks one of Indonesia’s most high-profile corruption cases involving a former cabinet minister and underscores the country’s continuing efforts to combat graft in public procurement.
