Lawyer for Former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology, Nadiem Makarim, has denied that his client received any funds from the 2019-2022 procurement of Chromebook laptops for the Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Ministry, which has estimatingly caused Rp1.98 trillion (US$120 million) in State losses.
“Not a single cent was received by Nadiem from anyone in relation to the buying and selling of laptops,” Hotman Paris Hutapea, Nadiem’s lawyer, said on Friday, September 5, 2025.
Hotman compared Nadiem’s designation as a suspect to that of former trade minister Tom Lembong in a sugar import corruption case, noting that being named a suspect does not necessarily imply illicit receipt of funds. He also clarified that Nadiem’s meetings with Google Indonesia were routine and did not involve any agreement to use Chromebooks in the procurement project.
“Pak Nadiem never agreed. The laptops were sold by vendors, not Google. Google only provides the system. The laptops were supplied by Indonesian companies,” Hotman added.
Prosecutor’s statement
Nurcahyo Jungkung Madyo, Director for Investigation at the Office of Junior Attorney General for Special Crimes, said that Nadiem met with Google Indonesia in 2020 to discuss the Google for Education program, which involved Chromebooks and Chrome Device Management (CDM). Following these meetings, technical directives and specifications were issued, effectively specifying the use of Chrome OS for the ministry’s Information and Communication Technology (ICT) procurement project.
In February 2021, Nadiem issued Ministerial Regulation No. 5/2021 on operational guidance for the Regular Physical Special Allocation Fund (DAK) for Education, which included Chromebook-specific technical specifications.
The Attorney General’s Office stated that the project procurement process, which had initially failed in 2019 for remote and underdeveloped regions, was subsequently pursued under Nadiem’s direction. Officials involved in drafting technical guidelines have also been named suspects in the ongoing investigation.
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