Nadiem: State losses of Rp2 trillion in Chromebook case result of engineering

JAKARTA - The Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for the period 2019-2024, Nadiem Anwar Makarim, stated that the state's loss of Rp2 trillion in the case of alleged corruption in Chromebooks, which dragged him as a defendant, was the result of engineering.

Because, said Nadiem, the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) has admitted publicly in their trial that they did not compare the purchase price of the Chromebook laptop with the market price.

"Imagine friends. So, you want to measure the cost of the laptop, but not compared to the market price," said Nadiem when met on the sidelines of the expert examination at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court, Monday, April 13, reported by ANTARA.

Therefore, Nadiem said that the expert examination trial this time, which presented the BPKP auditor, had absolutely proven the engineering of state losses.

During the trial, Nadiem said the BPKP auditor admitted that he used his own margin assumptions in making calculations.

In its calculation, BPKP determined the fair price of the Chromebook laptop at Rp. 4.3 million which was not in the price survey.

According to him, the figure is not real and does not exist in the market.

"Whoever wants to measure the state's losses must be compared with the market price and this did not happen. This is the strongest evidence that this is not a real loss," said Nadiem.

In the case of alleged corruption in the education digitization program in the form of the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) in the Ministry of Education and Culture in 2019-2022, Nadiem is accused of corruption that has caused losses to the state treasury of IDR 2.18 trillion.

The corruption is suspected to have been carried out by carrying out the procurement of learning facilities based on information and communication technology in the form of Chromebook laptops and CDM in the 2020, 2021, and 2022 budget years not in accordance with the procurement planning and procurement principles.

Nadiem's actions were charged together with three other defendants in a different trial, namely Ibam, Mulyatsyah, and Sri Wahyuningsih, as well as Jurist Tan, who is currently still at large.

In detail, the losses caused by the state include Rp1.56 trillion related to the education digitization program at the Ministry of Education and Culture, as well as 44.05 million US dollars or the equivalent of Rp621.39 billion due to the procurement of CDM that is not necessary and not useful in the education digitization program.

With this act, Nadiem is suspected of having received money amounting to IDR 809.59 billion originating from PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa (PT AKAB) through PT Gojek Indonesia.

It is stated that most of PT AKAB's money comes from Google's investment of US$786.99 million.

This can be seen from Nadiem's wealth which is recorded in the State-level Wealth Report (LHKPN) in 2022, namely there is an acquisition of property in the form of securities worth IDR 5.59 trillion.

For his actions, the former Minister of Education and Culture was threatened with a criminal penalty as stipulated in Article 2 paragraph (1) or Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning Eradication of Corruption as amended and supplemented by Law Number 20 of 2001 jo. Article 55 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code.