By PBS News
Publication Date: 2026-04-20 14:43:00
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Former Google executives on Monday denied the company’s involvement in a massive procurement project at Indonesia’s Education Ministry that prosecutors say caused $125 million in state losses.
Nadiem Anwar Makarim, 41, a co-founder of Indonesia’s ride-hailing and payment company Gojek, was arrested in September as a former education minister following an investigation into the alleged corruption linked to the procurement of Chromebook laptops.
Scott Beaumont, former president of Google Asia Pacific in 2019-2014, Caesar Sengupta, former general manager and vice president in 2018-2021, and William Florence, a former executive, testified at Jakarta’s Corruption Court on Monday via Zoom.
The laptop procurement was part of the government’s digitalization of schools.
Makarim, who was education minister between 2019 and 2024, allegedly favored Google’s Chromebook despite a ministry research team refusing to recommend the laptop model due to…
