An Indonesian court convicted former education minister and Gojek co-founder Nadiem Makarim of corruption on Tuesday, sentencing him to 10 years in prison.
Judges found Nadiem guilty of graft linked to the procurement of Chromebook laptops for schools during the COVID-19 pandemic, a scheme that prosecutors said caused around $120 million in state losses.
The anti-corruption court in Jakarta also ordered him to pay a fine of 1 billion rupiah ($55,850) and 809 billion rupiah (more than $45 million) in restitution, or face additional jail time.
The case marks a dramatic fall for the Ivy League-educated entrepreneur, once regarded as a leading figure in Indonesia's tech startup sector.
Nadiem, 41, co-founded ride-hailing giant Gojek in 2010 before leaving the company to join then-president Joko Widodo's cabinet in 2019 as one of Indonesia's youngest ministers. He served as education minister until 2024.
Prosecutors argued that Nadiem's decision to procure Chromebooks, which run on Google's ChromeOS operating system, was linked to the US technology giant's investment in Gojek.
Nadiem has consistently denied wrongdoing, maintaining that the procurement programme had saved public funds and describing the case as an "investigative error". His lawyer said he would appeal the verdict.
After the hearing, a tearful Nadiem said he had been "sentenced based on completely unreasonable facts".
"I was practically sentenced to 15 years because I was ordered to pay 809 billion rupiah in restitution, money I do not have," he said.
Dozens of Gojek drivers wearing the company's signature green jackets gathered outside the court to show support. After the verdict was announced, supporters inside and outside the courtroom chanted: "Nadiem is innocent!"
Google was not charged in the case and has denied wrongdoing.
GoTo Group, formed through the 2021 merger of Gojek and e-commerce platform Tokopedia, said Nadiem had held no decision-making role at the company since resigning in 2019.
