Former Indonesian Education Minister Nadiem Makarim is on trial for alleged corruption in the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome OS software for schools during the Covid-19 pandemic from 2020 to 2022. Prosecutors claim Makarim caused state losses of about US$125.64 million by tailoring tender specifications exclusively for Google's Chrome system, effectively handing Google control over Indonesia’s education ecosystem [1, 2, 3].
They accuse Makarim of enriching himself by approximately 809 billion rupiah through these deals. The charges also allege that procurement decisions were influenced by Google's investment in Gojek’s parent company, which Makarim founded, citing meetings between the minister and Google representatives in 2020 [1, 2, 3].
Makarim denies all wrongdoing, stating, "Experts and witnesses have said: there were no state losses, no law violations, no self-enrichment or enriching others as well as corporations, no mens rea." He asserts Google’s investment in Gojek was unrelated to the procurement, and Google noted its investments mostly predated his appointment [1, 2, 3].
In May 2026, prosecutors demanded an 18-year prison sentence and fines totaling about 6 trillion rupiah from Makarim. During his final defense delivered on June 2, he warned that legal uncertainties in the case have made young professionals fearful and caused concern among business communities. "Young professionals are scared that they can become the next victims. Business communities see a bad precedent from this case because they don't understand why the case was put on trial," Makarim said [1, 2, 3].
Potential investors have expressed worry about the legal risks surrounding the trial and the perception of professional criminalization in Indonesia [1, 2, 3]. The court is expected to continue deliberations soon as the case moves forward.
