Indonesia sentences Gojek founder to 10 years in prison in controversial graft case

JAKARTA, Indonesia – An Indonesian court on Tuesday, June 30, ruled that Nadiem Makarim, co-founder of tech firm Gojek and a former education minister, was guilty of some charges in a corruption case and sentenced him to 10 years in prison.

Makarim, 41, has protested his innocence, saying the case against him is politically motivated — an assertion that has found support from academics and rights activists.

The verdict has the potential to further undermine investor confidence in Indonesia. The rupiah and stocks have slumped this year after cuts to outlooks from credit ratings agencies on unpredictable policymaking and governance concerns, while index provider MSCI is weighing whether to downgrade Southeast Asia’s biggest economy due to market transparency concerns.

Makarim, who served as education minister from 2019 to 2024 under the previous administration of Joko Widodo, was accused of profiting from the government’s decision to purchase Google Chromebook laptops for Indonesian schools and causing $125 million in state losses.

Chief Judge Purwanto Abdullah, presiding over the ruling at Indonesia’s Corruption Court in Jakarta, said a panel of judges had found Makarim guilty of abuse of authority and of causing state losses.

He was found not guilty of directly seeking to enrich himself.

Makarim was ordered to pay 1 billion rupiah in fines and to return over 800 billion rupiah ($45 million) that the judges said was an amount he personally gained from the deal.

Failing to return the money would add another five years to his prison sentence, the judges said.

Flanked by family and friends, Nadiem said he would appeal the verdict.

“I was sentenced with facts that don’t make any sense,” Makarim said tearfully after the trial, adding he could not pay the amount ordered by the judges. “The judges couldn’t even look me in the eye.”

Prosecutors alleged that Google’s investment in Gojek’s parent company influenced the procurement decision and that Makarim created tender specifications that only fit the Chrome system to “make Google the sole controller of the education ecosystem in Indonesia”.

Google was not indicted.

Makarim has rejected the allegations, saying there was no personal enrichment and that Google’s investment in Gojek’s parent company was not connected to the procurement.

He has said the case is likely motivated by sweeping reforms he carried out during his time as education minister that cut into long-established corruption opportunities such as “training rackets, middlemen and budget leakage”, while acknowledging that his leadership style at the time had ruffled feathers. – Rappler.com