2 Ministry Of Religion Employee Houses Worth IDR 6.5 Billion Confiscated For Corruption Hajj Quota, KPK: Purchased Cash Using Fee Money

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) revealed that an employee at the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) at the Directorate General of Hajj and Umrah (Ditjen PHU) bought two houses worth Rp6.5 billion in cash. The payment is allegedly made to pay for the sale and purchase fee of 20,000 additional hajj quotas from the Saudi Arabian government.

"Buyed in 2024 in cash and allegedly comes from a fee for buying and selling Indonesian hajj quotas," said KPK spokesman Budi Prasetyo to reporters in a written statement, Tuesday, September 9.

Budi explained that investigators had confiscated this on Monday, September 8. The location is said to be around South Jakarta.

"With a total value of approximately Rp. 6.5 billion," he said.

"The confiscation was carried out in a corruption case related to the hajj quota in the context of organizing the Hajj in 2023-2024 at the Ministry of Religion," continued Budi.

Previously reported, the KPK has issued a general investigation warrant (sprindik) for alleged corruption in the addition of quotas and the implementation of Hajj in 2023-2024. This institution reasoned that the issuance was carried out so that they could make forced efforts.

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 corrupt practice.

State losses in the corruption case of quota and Hajj for the period 2023-2024 are said to have reached more than IDR 1 trillion. This amount is still increasing because it is only the initial calculation of the KPK which continues to coordinate with the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

This case began with the provision of 20,000 additional Hajj quotas from the Saudi Arabian government for Indonesia to reduce queues for pilgrims.

However, the distribution turned out to be problematic because it was divided equally, namely 50 percent for regular Hajj and 50 percent for special Hajj.

In fact, based on the law, the distribution should be 92 percent for regular Hajj and 8 percent for special Hajj.

The distribution was allegedly due to money from the Hajj and Umrah travel parties as well as the associations that oversee the Ministry of Religion. Then, they sell the additional quotas obtained to prospective pilgrims.