Jakarta. Indonesian prosecutors on Thursday formally asked the court for permission to seize a residence belonging to former education minister Nadiem Anwar Makarim, as part of an ongoing corruption trial linked to the procurement of Chromebook laptops.

The seizure request, submitted by the Attorney General’s Office, concerns a property located in the Dharmawangsa area of South Jakarta.

“The court has just received the seizure request today, relating to a plot of land and a building on Dharmawangsa Street,” presiding judge Purwanto Abdullah said during a hearing at the Central Jakarta District Court.

The panel of judges has not yet ruled on the request, saying it would first hear arguments from both the prosecution and the defense.

“Please present your views, both the prosecutors and the defense counsel. The panel will decide afterward,” Purwanto said.

Nadiem’s legal team immediately objected, arguing that there was no evidence showing their client had committed corruption or used proceeds from an alleged crime to purchase the property.

“Under the Corruption Law, asset seizure is permissible only when there is evidence that the defendant obtained tangible benefits from a criminal act,” defense lawyer Dodi Abdulkadir told the court. “To date, we have not even received an official calculation of state losses or alleged personal gains attributed to the defendant.”

The defense warned that seizing the property at this early stage of the trial would violate the defendant’s legal rights.

“Therefore, we formally object and ask the panel of judges to take this into serious consideration,” Dodi said.

In the case, Nadiem — who is also a co-founder of ride-hailing firm Gojek — has been charged with corruption, allegedly causing state losses of Rp 2.18 trillion ($119 million) in the procurement of Chromebook laptops for schoolchildren in remote and underdeveloped regions.

The case centers on the Education Ministry’s purchase of thousands of laptops between 2020 and 2022 that prosecutors say were largely ineffective due to limited internet access in disadvantaged areas. Prosecutors argue the procurement process failed to comply with planning requirements and established procurement principles.

Prosecutors have also accused Nadiem of obtaining Rp 809.59 billion in personal gains from the project, an allegation that forms a key part of the criminal charges now being examined by the court.

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