Gojek founder Nadiem Makarim’s graft sentence cut to nine years by Indonesian court

JAKARTA, Sept 24 — An Indonesian appeals court cut the corruption sentence of Nadiem Makarim by one year on September 24, but the tech founder vowed to appeal the conviction. Nadiem, co-founder of ride-hailing app Gojek and former education minister, was originally sentenced to 10 years in prison in June for graft related to the procurement of laptops for schools during the pandemic.

The appeals court reduced his sentence to nine years and decreased the restitution he must pay from 809 billion rupiah to 549 billion rupiah. Nadiem, a 42-year-old Ivy League graduate, resigned from Gojek in 2019 to become a cabinet member and served as education minister until 2024. He was convicted of corruption and abuse of authority for changing tender requirements to favor Google Chromebooks, resulting in an estimated US$120 million in state losses.

Prosecutors claimed Nadiem's actions were linked to Google's investment in Gojek. The appeals court upheld the lower court's decision to fine Nadiem an additional one billion rupiah. If Nadiem does not comply with the financial penalties, he faces additional prison time. Google was not charged in the case and has denied any wrongdoing.

GoTo Group, formed in 2021 after a merger of Gojek and e-commerce platform Tokopedia, stated that Nadiem had no decision-making role since his resignation in 2019.