[JAKARTA] Nadiem Makarim, co-founder of Indonesian ride-hailing giant Gojek (now GoTo) and former minister of education and culture, has been named a suspect in a corruption case linked to his time in office – the latest in a series of high-profile graft investigations involving the country’s tech sector.
The Attorney General’s Office (AGO) announced on Thursday (Sep 4) that Makarim had been detained in connection with alleged corruption in the procurement of Chromebook laptops during his 2019-2022 term as education minister.
“Based on our investigation and the evidence gathered, we have named a new suspect with the initials NAM (Nadiem Anwar Makarim),” said AGO spokesperson, Anang Supriatna.
Since May, Indonesian authorities have been investigating alleged corruption in the Education Ministry’s procurement of 1.2 million Chromebook laptops, valued at about 10 trillion rupiah (S$784 million).
Authorities allege that the ministry opted for Chromebooks over recommended Windows devices, and that vendors sold the laptops to the government at inflated prices.
Prosecutors have also named four other suspects, including Ibrahim Arief, a former vice-president at e-commerce platforms Bukalapak and Ovo.
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Arief, who later served as chief technology officer of GovTech Edu – the agency overseeing the ministry’s digital initiatives – is currently under city arrest due to health reasons. This means he must remain within the city where he lives.
Andre Soelistyo, former GoTo CEO, and Melissa Siska Juminto, former Tokopedia e-commerce president and current head of e-commerce at ByteDance Indonesia, have been summoned as witnesses. A partner manager from Google’s Indonesia office has also been called to testify.
Singapore-born Makarim founded Gojek in 2010 before stepping down to join then-president Joko Widodo’s Cabinet as minister of education and culture in October 2019.
Under his leadership, Gojek secured US$1.3 billion in funding from major global investors, including Alphabet’s Google, JD.com, and Tencent Holdings, cementing its status as Indonesia’s first unicorn.
Two years later, Gojek merged with Tokopedia in a blockbuster deal that created GoTo, now one of Indonesia’s largest tech companies. GoTo has clarified that Makarim has had no affiliation with the group since 2019.
The naming of Makarim as a suspect adds to a string of high-profile corruption cases in Indonesia’s tech sector, coming after authorities charged Gibran Huzaifah, founder of unicorn eFishery, over financial report manipulation and embezzlement.
