Gojek co-founder and former Indonesian minister Nadiem Makarim gets 10-year sentence for graft

JAKARTA, June 30 — An Indonesian court convicted former education minister Nadiem Makarim, the co-founder of a multibillion-dollar tech startup, of corruption today, sentencing him to 10 years in prison.

Judges found Nadiem guilty of graft tied to the procurement of Chromebooks for schools during the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in around US$120 million (RM480 million) in state losses.

The anti-corruption court in Jakarta also ordered Nadiem to pay a fine of 1 billion rupiah (US$55,850) and another 809 billion (more than US$45 million) in restitution — or serve an additional prison term.

The case represents a remarkable turnaround for the Ivy League-educated co-founder of ride-hailing app Gojek, once seen as a poster boy for Indonesia’s tech startup scene.

Nadiem, 41, quit the company to become one of the country’s youngest cabinet members in 2019, and served as education minister until 2024.

Prosecutors had argued that his decision to purchase Chromebook laptops, which use Google’s operating system ChromeOS, was linked with the US tech giant’s investment in Gojek and had cost the state around US$120 million in losses.

Nadiem has consistently denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyer said he would appeal the verdict.

The former minister claims the Chromebook procurement had in fact saved money, and has dismissed the case against him as an “investigative error”.

After the hearing, a tearful Nadiem said he had been “sentenced based on completely unreasonable facts... the four judges who sentenced me to 10 years in prison could not look me directly in the eye.”

“I was practically sentenced to 15 years because I was ordered to pay 809 billion rupiah in restitution, money I do not have,” he added.

Dozens of Gojek drivers wearing their signature green jackets came to show support, with Nadiem shaking hands with them and hugging his supporters before the hearing began.

After the verdict was pronounced, supporters inside and outside of the courtroom shouted: “Nadiem is innocent!”

Nadiem, whose lawyer father had served on the ethics committee of Indonesia’s anti-corruption agency, co-founded Gojek in 2010, starting out as a call centre with some 20 motorcycle drivers in Jakarta.

The name took inspiration from Jakarta’s ubiquitous motorbike taxis, known as “ojek”.

The company’s services have grown from ride-hailing to include food delivery and a digital wallet, with some 3.1 million registered drivers as of 2023.

Nadiem said he had accepted the offer from then-president Joko Widodo to serve as education minister in part to encourage Indonesian professionals to enter public service.

But he argued the case against him could cause an opposite effect.

“Young professionals fear that they will be the next victims,” he said.

Google was not charged in the case, and the company has denied any wrongdoing.

GoTo Group, created in 2021 after a merger of Gojek and e-commerce platform Tokopedia, said Nadiem had no decision-making role since his resignation from the company in 2019. — AFP