Ex-Minister Nadiem Makarim Not on Wanted List, Confirms AGO

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has confirmed that Nadiem Makarim, former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, is not a fugitive and his residence has never been searched in connection with the alleged corruption case involving the procurement of Chromebook laptops.

"That's not true," said Harli Siregar, Head of the Attorney General's Legal Information Center, when met at his office on Monday, June 2, 2025, addressing rumors that Nadiem was on the List of Wanted Persons (DPO).

Harli further clarified that investigators have not scheduled any examination or search involving Nadiem. "We will inform [the public] later," he added.

Rumors regarding Nadiem's legal status emerged after the AGO searched the homes and apartments of his three former special staff members, including Jurist Tan and Fiona Handayani, on May 21, 2025.

Additionally, the residence of Ibrahim, a special staff member and technical expert at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, was searched on Friday, May 23, 2025. During these searches, investigators seized electronic items and documents, which are currently being analyzed.

Last week, the AGO stated that it did not rule out the possibility of questioning Nadiem if necessary to fully uncover the corruption case in the procurement of Chromebook laptops during the 2019-2022 budget years. "Depending on the investigators' needs, anyone can be summoned and examined," Harli said on Tuesday, May 27, 2025.

This case is currently in the general investigation stage, but prosecutors have indicated that criminal acts were identified in the procurement of the laptops. These procurements were part of a digitalization program during Nadiem's tenure, which utilized a budget of up to Rp9.9 trillion, with special allocation funds (DAK) reaching Rp6.3 trillion.

The AGO believes that the procurement of Chromebook laptops did not align with recommendations from a 2018-2019 trial of 1,000 similar units. That trial concluded that Chromebooks were ineffective due to limited internet infrastructure in several regions. The technical team had also recommended the use of laptops based on the Windows operating system; however, this recommendation was not followed.

The AGO suspects a malicious conspiracy manipulated the procurement technical team to favor Chromebooks. This was allegedly achieved by altering the technical study that had initially rejected the use of the Chromebook operating system.

Currently, investigators are still working to identify the individual orchestrating the malicious procurement of the Chromebook laptops. "After examination and investigation, the investigators found preliminary evidence sufficient to escalate it to the investigation stage," he concluded.

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