KPK Opportunity To Summon Jokowi Regarding Investigation Of Alleged Corruption Of Hajj Quota

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has the opportunity to summon anyone who is suspected of knowing about the alleged corruption in quotas and the implementation of Hajj for the period 2023-2024. The 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia, Joko Widodo (Jokowi), who was still in office at that time.

"KPK is open to summoning anyone who is suspected of knowing the construction of this case and can help open and make light of the handling of this case," said KPK spokesman Budi Prasetyo to reporters at the KPK's Merah Putih building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta, quoted Tuesday, August 12.

However, Budi did not want to make assumptions about the summons. He said everything would be decided based on the needs of investigators.

The name Jokowi appeared because the additional quota of 20,000 pilgrims who ended up having problems was the result of a direct lobbying when Indonesia and the government of Saudi Arabia. "The summoning of all witnesses is of course dependent on the needs of the investigators," he said.

Meanwhile, Acting Deputy for Enforcement and Execution of the KPK Asep Guntur Rahayu once explained that the addition of a quota of 20,000 from the Saudi Arabian government had been lobbied by Indonesia to reduce queues for pilgrims.

"This additional 20,000 quotas are the result of a meeting or visit from the President of the Republic of Indonesia (the era of the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia Jokowi) with the government of Saudi Arabia where the reason is this quota request because the regular quota has been waiting for more than 15 years," he said some time ago.

However, the distribution of the quota was caught in trouble by the KPK. This is because the distribution that should be 92 percent for regular Hajj and the remaining 8 percent for special Hajj is evenly regulated.

This condition is then problematic because it is considered not in accordance with Law Number 8 of 2019 concerning the Implementation of Hajj and Umrah.

Previously reported, the KPK has issued a general investigation warrant (sprindik) for alleged corruption in the addition of quotas and the implementation of Hajj. This institution reasoned that the issuance was carried out so that they could make forced efforts.

"With this public sprindik, we are more free to collect evidence and also collect information so that it makes light of a case that we are currently handling," said Acting Deputy for Enforcement and Execution of the KPK Asep Guntur Rahayu at a press conference at the KPK's Merah Putih building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta, Saturday morning, August 9.

The general Sprindik uses Article 2 Paragraph 1 and/or Article 3 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law Number 20 of 2021 in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code. This means that there are state losses that occur due to this rasuah practice.

The state losses in the corruption case of quotas and the implementation of Hajj for the period 2023-2024 are said to have reached more than IDR 1 trillion. This amount but still increases because it is only the initial calculation of the KPK that continues to coordinate with the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) of the Republic of Indonesia.