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Alleged laptop procurement graft puts ex-minister Nadiem in spotlight
Attorney General’s Office (AGO) investigators are probing alleged corruption pertaining to the procurement of Google Chromebook laptops by the then-education, culture, research and technology ministry between 2019 and 2022.
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Former education, culture, research and technology minister Nadiem Makarim (center) sits next to his lawyers Hotman Paris Hutapea (right) and Mohamad Ali Nurdin (left) on Tuesday during a press briefing in Jakarta. The former minister dismissed allegations of corruption pertaining to the Google Chromebook laptop procurement project in his ministry between 2019 and 2022. (Antara/Ferlian Septa Wahyusa)
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fter finishing his term as former president Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s education minister, Nadiem Makarim is back in the public spotlight in the Attorney General’s Office’s (AGO) investigation into alleged corruption pertaining to a procurement project during his ministerial tenure.
Investigators with the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for Extraordinary Crimes (Jampidsus) launched an investigation in May into alleged graft related to the procurement of Google Chromebook laptops by the then-education, culture, research and technology ministry between 2019 and 2022.
Investigators interrogated at least 28 witnesses. Among them was Fiona Handayani, one of Nadiem’s special staffers, who was summoned by the AGO on Tuesday for an interrogation session. The AGO previously confiscated her laptop and mobile phones during a raid last month.
AGO spokesperson Harli Siregar said that investigators planned to call in two of Nadiem’s other former special staffers, identified as Jurist Tan and Ibrahim Arief, for questioning this week. Investigators also seized their phones and computers as well as other documents from their houses during a recent raid.
The AGO also slapped the three former special staffers with a travel ban on June 4, as they failed to fulfil a summons for an interrogation.
According to the AGO, the procurement cost around Rp 9.9 trillion (US$607 million), around two-thirds of which was taken from a special allocated fund (DAK) originally earmarked to be transferred by the central government to regional administrations.
Read also: Labor groups slam foreign worker permit corruption case
