TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Nadiem Makarim's lawyer, Zaid Mushafi, has criticized the court's verdict against the former minister, describing the ruling as misguided. One of the contested elements involves Google's alleged role in the case, a point central to Nadiem's appeal memorandum.
According to Zaid, Google was never interrogated by prosecutors or questioned during the trial. "Google was never accused, let alone questioned, and there is no state loss audit indicating that Google received any funds," Zaid said at the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
Zaid asserted that Google had no involvement in the procurement process and did not sell Chromebooks, a fact he argued was clearly established in court. Yet, in its legal considerations, the judicial panel accused the co-founder of tech firm Gojek of enriching the tech giant by opting for Chromebooks.
"[There is] an error in evaluating Google's role in the ICT and Chromebook procurement process. The factual evidence from the trial has repeatedly proven otherwise," Zaid stated.
Zaid noted that the state's financial losses stemmed from inflated prices, which bore no correlation to Google. "Furthermore, the vendors and the Government Goods/Services Procurement Policy Agency (LKPP) have denied any such price inflation," Zaid added.
According to the legal team, these findings by the court are factually incorrect. "And that is one of our objections in the appeal," Zaid said.
Zaid officially submitted the appeal memorandum to the Integrated One-Stop Service (PTSP) at the Central Jakarta District Court on Wednesday, July 8, 2026.
Previously, the court had linked Google's involvement to corporate investments. PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (AKAB), Gojek's parent company, was alleged to have benefited from an appreciation in the value of Google's investment. The judicial panel suspected that this surge in investment value resulted from Nadiem selecting Chrome OS for the government's digital education project.
"Google's investment, which boosted the valuation of PT AKAB and GoTo, still substantially benefited the defendant as a shareholder," the panel noted. "Even though the realization of these benefits was deferred until the sale of shares in 2023 and 2024, as the defendant himself admitted," said presiding judge Purwanto S. Abdullah while reading out the ruling's considerations on Tuesday, June 30, 2026.
Nadiem Makarim was sentenced to 10 years in prison over the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) software at the Ministry of Education and Culture between 2019 and 2022. "The defendant, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, has been proven legally and convincingly guilty of collective corruption," Purwanto stated.
Along with the prison term, Nadiem was fined Rp1 billion, which will be substituted with an additional 190 days in prison if left unpaid. "The court also orders an additional penalty of restitution amounting to Rp809,597,125,000 (Rp809.59 billion)," Purwanto added.
Under the ruling, if the restitution is not settled, his personal assets will be confiscated and auctioned. Should his assets prove insufficient to cover the amount, the penalty will be replaced by an additional five-year prison term.
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