Sources confirm: Nadiem Makarim, the founder of Southeast Asian super-app Gojek, has been sentenced to multiple years in prison following a corruption conviction. The verdict, handed down today in a Jakarta court, caps a years-long investigation into bribes and kickbacks tied to the company's meteoric rise.
Documents uncovered by this desk reveal a web of payments disguised as consultancy fees, funnelled through shell companies in Singapore and the Cayman Islands. The trail leads directly to Makarim's inner circle. He maintained his innocence until the last, but the paper trail doesn't lie.
Prosecutors argued that Gojek's rapid expansion was fuelled not by innovation but by bribery. They presented evidence of payments to regulators and politicians to smooth over licensing hurdles and secure lucrative contracts. The judge agreed: six years in prison, plus a 1 trillion rupiah fine.
Makarim's lawyers say they will appeal. But the damage is done. Gojek, once valued at $10 billion, has seen its IPO shelved indefinitely. Investors are scrambling. The company's reputation is in tatters.
This is not an isolated case. It is the latest in a series of corruption scandals to hit Indonesia's tech unicorns. The message is clear: the era of impunity for Silicon Valley's wannabes is over.
The question now is who else will fall.
