Former Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim filed a pretrial motion at the South Jakarta District Court on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, challenging his status as a suspect in the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) probe into the alleged corruption of Chromebook procurement for the ministry’s digitalization program.
“Our team has officially submitted the pretrial application on behalf of Mr. Nadiem Anwar Makarim today,” his lawyer, Hana Pertiwi, told reporters at the court.
Hana argued that the AGO had insufficient evidence to name her client as a suspect, particularly regarding the state loss calculation.
“One key issue is the audit of state losses, which by law must come from authorized institutions such as the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) or the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP). If the suspect designation is unlawful, then so is the detention,” she said.
Earlier this month, the AGO named Nadiem, who is also the co-founder and former CEO of ride-hailing giant Gojek, as a suspect and immediately placed him in custody.
“Based on the evidence gathered, investigators have determined a new suspect, namely NAM, former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology,” AGO spokesman, Anang Supriatna, said on September 4, 2025.
Among the evidence cited was Nadiem’s meetings with Google to discuss digital products for students. The discussions reportedly led to the adoption of the Google Chrome OS system.
The suspect designation came after Nadiem underwent three rounds of questioning on June 23, July 15, and September 4, 2025.
The pre-trial motion will test whether the AGO’s decision to name and detain Nadiem meets the legal threshold. If the court grants his petition, his suspect status and subsequent detention could be revoked.
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