Latest news with #Nadiem
AFP
a day ago
- Politics
- AFP
Video shows Indonesian investigators searching former ministry staff's flats, not residence of ex-minister
"Arrogant toward teachers, former Ministry of Education and Culture official now a fugitive in a corruption case," reads an Indonesian-language SnackVideo post shared on May 28, 2025. The video, which shows investigators entering and searching through a flat, is overlaid with text that says Nadiem is "suspected of being involved in corruption related to a laptop procurement worth nearly 10 trillion Indonesian rupiah (US$614 million)". "The Attorney General's Office, escorted by the military, searched Nadiem's apartment and found several pieces of evidence," it adds, before concluding that the former minister is being "pursued" by the Attorney General's Office and his whereabouts are unknown. Image Screenshot of the false SnackVideo post, captured on June 11, 2025 The video surfaced after the AGO opened a corruption investigation into the ministry of education and culture's procurement of Chromebook laptops worth 10 trillion rupiah between , which were meant to support the digitalisation of public schools. from 2019 until 2024 (archived link). AGO spokesman Harli Siregar said there are "strong indications of a conspiracy in the procurement process", with tests showing the laptops were ineffective in areas lacking reliable internet access, according to a report in the Jakarta Globe (archived link). "Roughly 1,000 Chromebooks had previously been tested and showed poor performance, yet the procurement went ahead," he said. Similar posts claiming the video showed authorities searching Nadiem's flat were also shared elsewhere on SnackVideo as well as on Facebook. "Arrest them and throw them in jail along with the ones who appointed them -- for 55 years," read a comment on one of the posts. Another said: "Seize their assets, make them poor, and lock them up. Cut off the hands of corrupt officials as a deterrent if necessary. Enough is enough!" But as of June 12, the AGO has not conducted a search of Nadiem's flat. Flats of former staff "We never stated that Nadiem Makarim's apartment was searched, let alone that he has been listed as a fugitive," AGO on June 10. He added the agency had searched three residences belonging to the minister's former staff, and those individuals had been banned from travelling. Nadiem's legal counsel, Muhamad Ali Nurdin, separately stated at a press conference on June 10 that no search had been conducted of his client's residence (archived link). "The search never happened," he said. A keyword search on Google led to some of the used in the false posts in a YouTube video published on May 29 by local broadcaster MetroTV (archived link). The video is titled, "Attorney General's Office Searches 2 Apartments of Former Minister of Education and Culture's Staff." Overlaid text on the MetroTV video reads, "Attorney General's Office searches 2 apartments belonging to staff members of the former Minister of Education and Culture". Nowhere in the video does it say the flats belonged to Nadiem. Image Screenshot comparison of falsely shared video (left) and MetroTV's video (right) According to a report by local outlet Tempo, the flats all belonged to the former staff members (archived link). AFP has debunked other false claims related to corruption probes in Indonesia.
The Star
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Star
Alleged laptop procurement graft puts ex-minister Nadiem in spotlight
Former education, culture, research and technology minister Nadiem Makarim (centre) sits next to his lawyers Hotman Paris Hutapea (right) and Mohamad Ali Nurdin (left) during a press briefing in Jakarta. The former minister dismissed allegations of corruption pertaining to the Google Chromebook laptop procurement project in his ministry between 2019 and 2022. - Antara via The Jakarta Post/ANN JAKARTA: After finishing his term as former president Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo's education minister, Nadiem Makarim is back in the public spotlight in the Attorney General's Office's (AGO) investigation into alleged corruption pertaining to a procurement project during his ministerial tenure. Investigators with the Office of the Assistant Attorney General for Extraordinary Crimes (Jampidsus) launched an investigation in May into alleged graft related to the procurement of Google Chromebook laptops by the then-education, culture, research and technology ministry between 2019 and 2022. Investigators interrogated at least 28 witnesses. Among them was Fiona Handayani, one of Nadiem's special staffers, who was summoned by the AGO on Tuesday (June 10) for an interrogation session. The AGO previously confiscated her laptop and mobile phones during a raid last month. AGO spokesperson Harli Siregar said that investigators planned to call in two of Nadiem's other former special staffers, identified as Jurist Tan and Ibrahim Arief, for questioning this week Investigators also seized their phones and computers as well as other documents from their houses during a recent raid. The AGO also slapped the three former special staffers with a travel ban on June 4, as they failed to fulfil a summons for an interrogation. According to the AGO, the procurement cost around Rp 9.9 trillion (US$607 million), around two-thirds of which was taken from a special allocated fund originally earmarked to be transferred by the central government to regional administrations. Harli said that investigators found indications of collusion to procure Chromebook laptops to be distributed to schools around the country. The Google-based laptops were picked despite initial tests in 2018 by the ministries' research team that discouraged the use of laptops because of their lack of effectiveness in regions without internet connections. He added that investigators also probed an allegation of price markup for the laptop. While Jampidsus investigators already had the name of five vendors allegedly involved in the case, Harli did not elaborate further on Google's role in the illicit practice. A representative of Google Indonesia was not immediately available to respond to The Jakarta Post's request for comment. The Jampidsus investigators were still looking for the people managing the procurement project as well as the mastermind who first proposed the idea. During a press briefing on Tuesday, Nadiem denied allegations of collusion to favour the Chromebook over other laptops. He also rebuked claims that his ministry dismissed the 2018 study outlining the laptop's disadvantage, claiming that the research was done before he took office in October 2024 and focussed on gadgets for schools in less developed and remote areas. 'Meanwhile, the laptop procurement during my term of office was not targeted for remote and less developed areas,' Nadiem said in the televised press conference. He added that the gadgets were intended to prevent 'learning loss' among students in areas with established digital infrastructure and internet connections during the Covid-19 pandemic as well as to help educators in their teaching process. Nadiem picked famed lawyer Hotman Paris Hutapea to represent him in the matter. The lawyer argued that allegations made by AGO investigators missed the mark. 'Nadiem never veered [from the study's results] because the study [and Nadiem's Chromebook procurement] were two different projects. They cannot be linked to each other,' Hotman said. The former education minister further claimed the programme was a success, with 97 per cent of the 1.1 million Chromebook laptops procured during his term delivered to 77,000 schools by 2023. He also claimed that his ministry undertook a 'periodic census' to count the laptops. Despite dismissing the allegations of involvement in the case, Nadiem said that he was 'ready to cooperate' and support investigators by providing needed information or clarification on the investigation. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
