An Indonesian corruption court sentenced former Education Minister Nadiem Makarim, co-founder of Gojek, to 10 years in prison over a Google Chromebook procurement scheme, ordering him to pay 809.6 billion rupiah in restitution.
An Indonesian corruption court on Tuesday sentenced Nadiem Makarim, a co-founder of ride-hailing and payments company Gojek and former education minister, to 10 years in prison after finding him guilty of corruption tied to a government Chromebook procurement program.
Makarim, who served as education minister from 2019 to 2024, was also fined 1 billion Indonesian rupiah ($55,870) and ordered to pay 809.6 billion rupiah in restitution. He faces an additional five-year prison term if he fails to repay that amount.
Prosecutors had sought a far stiffer penalty — an 18-year sentence, a 1 billion rupiah fine, and restitution of 5.6 trillion rupiah — making the court's ruling notably lighter than what the government demanded.
The case centers on a government education digitalization program that ran from 2019 to 2022, during which Makarim's ministry procured Google Chromebooks for Indonesian schools.
Indonesia's Attorney General formally named Makarim a suspect in September 2025, alleging that he and other officials steered technical specifications in procurement documents to favor Google products.
In February 2020, Makarim met with representatives from Google Indonesia to discuss the company's products, including devices that could be deployed by the ministry and distributed to students. Prosecutors wrote that those discussions ultimately resulted in an agreement that Google's ChromeOS and Chrome Device Management systems would form the basis of the ministry's information and communications technology procurement.
That decision came despite a 2019 assessment by the previous education minister concluding that Chromebooks could not be used effectively across all parts of Indonesia, including remote regions, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors also alleged that lower-specification Chromebooks should have cost approximately 3 million rupiah each but were procured at around 6 million rupiah per unit.
A potential conflict of interest was central to the prosecution's argument. "The trial facts also revealed an alleged conflict of interest, where there was an investment and business debt relationship between the technology provider and the company owned by the Defendant, thus creating an unhealthy symbiosis in the procurement of state goods," said Public Prosecutor Roy Riady.
Google denied the allegations. "We have not offered, promised or provided benefits to Ministry of Education officials in exchange for their decision to adopt Google products," the company said in a statement. Google also said the bulk of its investments in Gojek-related entities occurred before Makarim's appointment as education minister.
The case ranks among the highest-profile corruption prosecutions to implicate a former Indonesian cabinet minister, and it draws direct scrutiny to how major technology companies operate in emerging markets where government procurement represents a significant revenue channel.
With a verdict now on record, the case is likely to draw continued attention to procurement practices in Indonesia's public education sector and to the conduct of foreign technology firms navigating investment relationships with politically connected local partners.
Jay Goldberg is a staff writer at TechEchelon covering technology, markets, and policy. He files the breaking news and deal coverage that move the publication's core desks.
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