# Indonesia sentences Gojek co-founder Nadiem Makarim to 10 years in corruption case
*By IO Digest Desk*
Former Indonesian education minister and Gojek co-founder Nadiem Makarim was sentenced on event date 2026-06-30 to 10 years in prison after judges found him guilty of corruption linked to a government Chromebook procurement programme. The supplied BBC extract says the court also ordered him to pay 809 billion rupiah in restitution or face an additional five years in prison, alongside a one billion rupiah fine that could add 190 days if unpaid [Source 14159].
The case centres on the education ministry’s purchase of Chromebook laptops for schools in 2021 and 2022 during Makarim’s tenure. Prosecutors argued that the devices were unsuitable for remote parts of Indonesia because the ministry had previously determined in 2018 that they required an internet connection and were therefore a poor fit for areas with weak connectivity. They also alleged that the procurement moved forward after Makarim met Google representatives in 2020 and that tender specifications were shaped to favour the Chrome ecosystem [Source 14159].
That allegation mattered because Google was an investor in Gojek and Makarim retained a minority shareholding in the company while serving as minister. Prosecutors said that created a conflict of interest and claimed his actions caused $125 million in state losses while steering benefits linked to transactions involving Gojek’s holding company. According to the BBC extract, the judges ultimately ruled that it was not proven Makarim unlawfully enriched himself personally, but they still found that he had abused his authority and acted within a conflict of interest [Source 14159].
Makarim denied the charges, argued that Google’s investment relationship was unrelated to the procurement and said the Chromebooks reduced costs for the government. He also maintained that the 809 billion rupiah at issue had remained in company accounts and was never money he personally touched. Nonetheless, the panel convicted him of corruption, a result that BBC says has fuelled criticism from observers who view the case as politically selective or weakly evidenced [Source 14159].
The extract places the verdict inside a larger Indonesian political climate. Supporters, including Gojek drivers, gathered outside the Jakarta courthouse carrying banners in his favour. Analysts and activists quoted by BBC warned that the conviction could deepen public fear that outsiders who enter government or challenge entrenched interests risk criminalisation. The case also arrived during a period of youth unrest, rising living costs and mounting anger at President Prabowo Subianto’s government [Source 14159].
What the supplied evidence supports is already substantial: Makarim was sentenced to 10 years, the court tied the conviction to the Chromebook procurement and conflict-of-interest findings, and the restitution order means he says the effective sentence could stretch to 15 years. The wider political meaning remains contested, but the legal outcome is not. On the evidence here, one of Indonesia’s best-known tech founders has moved from cabinet office and startup acclaim into a corruption conviction that now sits at the intersection of governance, procurement and political trust [Source 14159].
