Sebut Nadiem's Lawyer Not Healthy, Kejaksaan Claims He Can Attend the Hearing

Former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Mendikbudristek) Nadiem Anwar Makarim during an examination at the KPK Building (Tsa Tsia/VOI)

JAKARTA - Nadiem Anwar Makarim's legal advisor, Dodi Abdulkadir, stated that his client is still undergoing post-operative treatment and recovery so that it is not certain that he will attend the first trial of the alleged corruption case of the education digitization program.

Nadiem is scheduled to undergo a first trial for alleged corruption in the procurement of Chromebook laptops and Chrome Device Management (CDM) in the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology (Kemendikbudristek) period 2019-2022 at the Corruption Court at the Central Jakarta District Court, Tuesday, December 23.

"There is no update from the doctor. Before there is a healthy statement from the doctor, legally our client cannot undergo a trial," said Dodi Abdulkadir, quoted by Antara.

Meanwhile, the Attorney General's Office conveyed different information regarding Nadiem's health condition. Head of the Legal Information Center of the Attorney General's Office, Anang Supriatna, said that the public prosecutor obtained information from the doctor that Nadiem had been declared healthy.

"According to information from the public prosecutor, based on the doctor's statement, the person concerned is healthy and can resume activities," said Anang in Jakarta, Monday, December 22.

However, Anang has not been able to confirm whether the former Minister of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology for the period 2019-2024 will be present at the first trial.

"Later we will see the development tomorrow," he said.

The first trial with the agenda of reading the indictment against Nadiem was originally scheduled to take place on Tuesday, December 16, but was postponed because the defendant was still being escorted or undergoing a suspension of detention due to illness.

In this case, in addition to Nadiem, there are four other defendants, namely Sri Wahyuningsih, Ibrahim, Mulyatsyah, and former Special Staff for the Minister of Education and Culture Jurist Tan. Sri Wahyuningsih, Ibrahim, and Mulyatsyah have undergone a trial reading of the indictment on December 16. Meanwhile, the case file for Jurist Tan has not been forwarded to the court because the person concerned is still at large.

In the trial of the three defendants, the prosecutor revealed that the alleged state losses caused by the program amounted to IDR 2.18 trillion. The losses consisted of IDR 1.56 trillion from the Kemendikbudristek education digitization program and amounted to 44.05 million US dollars or equivalent to IDR 621.39 billion due to the procurement of CDM which was considered unnecessary and did not provide benefits.

The prosecutor also revealed that there were a number of parties who were suspected of receiving funds from the case, including Nadiem Makarim who was said to have received Rp809.59 billion from PT Aplikasi Karya Anak Bangsa through PT Gojek Indonesia.