KPK Reveals Unlicensed Travel Agents Can Buy Special Hajj Quota To Depart Pilgrims

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) suspects that travel agents or travel agents who are not special hajj organizers (PIHK) can still send pilgrims by buying quotas from other travel agents.

This was revealed from the investigation of alleged corruption in quotas and the implementation of Hajj in 2023-2024 at the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag).

"There is a travel agency that gets a special hajj quota from other travel agencies because there are indeed some who, for example, do not yet have permission to hold a special pilgrimage. There is also something like that," said KPK Spokesperson Budi Prasetyo to reporters at the KPK's Merah Putih building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta, Wednesday, September 24.

The condition was problematic because the quota used was an additional 20,000 rations from the Saudi Arabian government. So, Budi said, investigators conducted an in-depth investigation to various parties including travel agents which were marathonly inspected since the beginning of this week.

"KPK also said that every statement from the witnesses, from the Hajj travel agencies, really helped investigators in completing the information needed in this investigation process," he said.

Previously reported, the KPK said that allegations of corruption related to quotas and the implementation of Hajj in 2023-2024 at the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) would enter a new chapter. In the near future, the suspects will be announced because the process is running using a general investigation warrant (sprindik).

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 stems from 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 based on the Decree (SK) of the Minister of Religion signed by Yaqut Cholil Qoumas.

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

Later, the distribution of problems was allegedly due to money from the Hajj and Umrah travel parties as well as the associations that oversee the Ministry of Religion. After getting the allotment, they sold the additional quota to prospective pilgrims.