Nadiem Makarim Placed Under House Arrest

TheIndonesia.co - Former Indonesian Minister of Education, Culture, Research and Technology Nadiem Makarim has officially been placed under house arrest after a panel of judges at the Jakarta Corruption Court granted his legal team’s request.

The status change for the defendant in the alleged corruption case involving the procurement of Chromebooks and Chrome Device Management (CDM) devices was approved through Court Ruling Number 147/Pid.Sus-TPK/2025/PN Jkt.Pst.

“First, the Court grants the request submitted by the Defendant’s legal counsel to alter the type of detention imposed on the Defendant,” presiding judge Purwanto S. Abdullah said at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday (11 May 2026).

 

“Second, the detention of Defendant Nadiem Anwar Makarim is hereby changed from detention at the Salemba State Detention Centre branch under the Central Jakarta District Prosecutor’s Office to house arrest,” he added.

The judges stated that, following the ruling, Nadiem would serve his detention at his residence in the Dharmawangsa area of Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta. Under the terms of the order, he must remain at the property at all times.

“The Defendant must agree to the installation of an electronic monitoring device should the Central Jakarta District Prosecutor’s Office have the necessary facilities available. The Defendant is prohibited from removing, damaging, manipulating, or interfering with the device’s function, and must immediately report any malfunction while ensuring the device remains active and fully charged,” the judge said.

Earlier in the proceedings, prosecutors alleged that Nadiem received Rp809 billion from the alleged corruption scheme linked to the education digitalisation programme and the procurement of Chromebook laptops between 2019 and 2022.

“Enriching himself, another individual, or a corporation, namely Defendant Nadiem Anwar Makarim, in the amount of Rp809,596,125,000,” prosecutor Roy Riady told the Jakarta Corruption Court in December 2025.

Prosecutors said the state’s estimated losses of Rp2.1 trillion stemmed from inflated Chromebook prices amounting to Rp1.5 trillion and the procurement of unnecessary and allegedly useless CDM services valued at Rp621 billion.

The prosecution further alleged that the Chromebook and CDM procurement process violated procurement principles, lacked proper price evaluations and market surveys, and resulted in devices unsuitable for teaching and learning activities in Indonesia’s underdeveloped, frontier and outermost regions, commonly referred to as 3T areas.

In addition to Nadiem, three other defendants are standing trial in the case: Ibrahim Arief, Mulyatsah, and Sri Wahyuningsih.

All four defendants have been charged under multiple provisions of Indonesia’s Anti-Corruption Law, including Article 2 Paragraph (1) and Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of the Corruption Eradication Law and Article 55 Paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code.