Attorney General Names Nadiem Makarim as New Suspect in Laptop Procurement Case
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JAKARTA, Investortrust.id — The Attorney General’s Office has named former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology Nadiem Makarim as a new suspect in the alleged corruption case surrounding the procurement of Chromebook laptops between 2019 and 2022.
Spokesman Anang Supriatna announced the decision during a press briefing at the Attorney General’s Office in South Jakarta on Thursday, Sept 4, 2025, confirming that investigators found sufficient evidence after examining witnesses and experts.
Director of Investigations at the Deputy Attorney General for Special Crimes, Nurcahyo Jungkung Madyo, said the decision was reached after compiling testimony, expert opinions, official documents, and material evidence. “It has been determined that a new suspect, NAM, served as Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for the 2019–2024 period,” he stated.
Nadiem, who previously co-founded ride-hailing company Gojek, arrived at the Attorney General’s Office around 08:55 a.m. on Thursday, accompanied by six lawyers, including prominent attorney Hotman Paris Hutapea. He was undergoing his third round of questioning after earlier examinations on June 23 and July 15, 2025.
Dressed in a dark green shirt and black trousers, he briefly addressed reporters before entering the building. “I was called as a witness,” he said, declining to comment further on the details of the session.
The Attorney General’s Office has already named four other suspects in the same case. They are Jurist Tan, a former special staffer to the minister from 2020 to 2024; Ibrahim Arief, a former technology consultant; Sri Wahyuningsih, former director of elementary education who also served as budget user authority in 2020–2021; and Mulyatsyah, former director of junior high schools who also held budget authority in 2020–2021.
Investigators previously searched apartments linked to two of Nadiem’s former aides as part of their probe into the Rp 9.9 trillion ($600 million) laptop procurement project, which was designed to support education digitalization.
Former investigations director Abdul Qohar noted that the program was planned before Nadiem’s appointment as minister, though its execution occurred during his tenure.
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