The Attorney General's Office Explains The Role Of Nadiem Makarim, A Chromebook Corruption Suspect

The Attorney General's Office (AGO) has revealed the role of Nadiem Makarim who has been named a suspect in the alleged corruption case in the procurement of Chromebook laptops at the Ministry of Education and Culture.

The former Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology, held a meeting with Google Indonesia to discuss products in the Google O-Education program using Chromebooks that can be used by the Ministry, especially for students, in February 2020.

"In several meetings held by NAM with Google, it has been agreed that products from Google, namely Chrome OS and Chrome Device Management or CDM, will be made a project to procure information and communication technology or ICT. In realizing an agreement between NAM and Google Indonesia," said the Director of Investigation (Dirdik) Jampidsus AGO, Nurcahyo Jukung Madyo to reporters, Thursday, September 4.

Then, Nadiem held a closed meeting or meeting with the Director General of Dikdasmen with the initials H, the Head of Research and Development of the Ministry of Education and Culture with the initials T, and the Special Staff of Nadiem with the initials JT and FH on May 6, 2020.

In the meeting, they discussed the procurement or completeness of ICT tools using Chromebooks.

"Melakukan rapat tertutup via zoom dan peserta menggunakan headset atau alat semacam untuk membahas alat teknologi informatika komunikasi Chromebook sebagaimana perintah NAM," sebut Nurcahyo.

Nadiem is said to have answered Google's letter to participate in the procurement of ICT equipment at the Ministry of Education and Culture. In fact, the previous minister, Muhadjir Effendy, did not respond to the letter.

The reason is that the Chromebook procurement trial failed in 2019. So it is considered inapplicable to schools located in the outermost, underdeveloped, and deepest areas or 3T.

"On NAM's orders in the implementation of the 2020 ICT procurement, which will use Chromebooks, SW as the Director of Elementary School and M as the Director of Junior High School made a technical guideline, Uklap whose specifications have been locked, namely Chrome OS. Furthermore, the technical team made a technical review study which was used as technical specifications by mentioning Chrome OS," said Nurcahyo.

In fact, Nadiem issued Permendikbud number 5 of 2021 concerning operational instructions for regular physical allocation funds for education for the 2021 fiscal year, which in its attachment has locked the Chrome OS specifications, in February 2021.

Nadiem's actions violated Presidential Regulation No. 123 of 2020 concerning the Juknis for the 2021 Physical Special Allocation Fund, then Presidential Decree No. 16 of 2018 which was amended by Presidential Decree No. 12 of 2021 concerning the Procurement of Goods and Services.

In addition, LKPP Regulation Number 7 of 2018 was amended Number 11 of 2021 concerning Guidelines for Planning for Government Procurement of Goods or Services.

In this case, Nadiem Makarim is suspected of violating Article 2 paragraph 1 or Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law number 31 of 1999 as amended by Law number 20 of 2001 concerning amendments to Law of the Republic of Indonesia number 31 of 1999 concerning the weighting of criminal acts of corruption in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph 1 to 1 of the Criminal Code.