Nadiem Makarim's lawyer, Tabrani Abby, stated that the Rp1.98 trillion state loss in the alleged corruption case of Chromebook procurement at Kemendikbudristek is not certain. He also denied that the WhatsApp group 'Mas Menteri Core Team' was created specifically for that procurement. The statements were made during a press conference in Jakarta on Monday (October 27, 2025).
During a press conference in Jakarta on Monday (October 27, 2025), Tabrani Abby, the lawyer for suspect Nadiem Makarim, emphasized that the Rp1.98 trillion state financial loss in the alleged corruption case of Chromebook procurement from 2019-2022 is not certain. "(Regarding) the state financial loss, we ourselves do not yet know exactly where the Rp1.98 trillion figure comes from," Abby said. He stated that they have not seen calculations from the Audit Report (LHP) of the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPKP) or the Financial Audit Board (BPK).
Abby added that if the loss was real and certain, it should have been presented in the pre-trial hearing filed by Nadiem earlier. However, only "evidence exposure" was shown, an initial audit stage without exact figures. "Exposure does not yet have precise numbers on the state financial loss," he said. Therefore, he considers there to be no state financial loss in this case.
Previously, the Attorney General's Office (Kejagung) estimated the loss at around Rp1.98 trillion, which is still under further calculation by BPKP. Kejagung has named five suspects: Jurist Tan (JT) as special staff to the Minister of Education 2020-2024, Ibrahim Arief (BAM) as former technology consultant, Sri Wahyuningsih (SW) as Director of Elementary Schools 2020-2021, Mulyatsyah (MUL) as Director of Junior High Schools 2020-2021, and Nadiem Makarim as former Minister of Education.
Additionally, Abby denied Kejagung's claim that the WhatsApp group 'Mas Menteri Core Team' was formed in August 2019 to plan Chromebook procurement. "I want to emphasize that the WhatsApp group was created to discuss ideas on the use of technology in education," he said. The group was originally named 'Edu Org' before Nadiem's appointment as minister on October 19, 2019, and renamed afterward. It includes education and IT experts, such as Jurist Tan and Fiona Handayani, discussing topics like school zoning policies and formative assessments, as part of Nawacita and the 2019-2024 Medium-Term Development Plan. Chromebook discussions only emerged on May 6, 2020, to compare it with Windows.