Investigated for 8.5 Hours, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Yaqut chose to remain silent about the investigation material of the Kouta Haji corruption case.

JAKARTA - Former Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas chose to remain silent after undergoing an examination related to alleged corruption in determining quotas and the implementation of the 2023-2024 hajj pilgrimage at the Ministry of Religion.

He chose to rush without giving any statement after being examined as a witness since 11.40 WIB.

From field observation, Yaqut left the KPK Red and White building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta at around 20.12 WIB. This means that he was examined for almost 8.5 hours.

When he left the lobby of the building, Yaqut did not say anything. He tried to break through the media crew who had been waiting since noon.

"Later, please ask the investigators," said Yaqut briefly when asked about the examination material. Including, whether there are questions that have been submitted related to the findings of the KPK team that departed for Saudi Arabia.

"Permission, permission," he continued.

After leaving the building area, Yaqut, accompanied by a number of people, immediately rushed to board a black Toyota Fortuner. He did not make any statement.

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Meanwhile, KPK spokesperson Budi Prasetyo, when the examination of Yaqut was still ongoing, said there were a number of materials that would be investigated by investigators. One of them is the findings of investigators obtained from Saudi Arabia some time ago.

It is known that the KPK investigation team had departed for Saudi Arabia to seek additional evidence a few weeks ago. There, they coordinated with the local Hajj ministry to many parties.

"Investigators have also conducted examinations and requested information from a number of parties when visiting Saudi Arabia. Therefore, the scheduling for today's examination will complete these statements," said KPK spokesperson Budi Prasetyo to reporters at the KPK Red and White Building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta, Tuesday, December 16.

Then, Yaqut will also be questioned about other findings obtained by investigators.

"So later, when we look at the construction of the case, this is based on the addition of a quota for the hajj of 20,000, which was then discredited, 50 percent for regular and 50 percent for special," said Budi.

Meanwhile, the acting deputy for enforcement and execution of the KPK, Asep Guntur Rahayu, explained that Yaqut would also be questioned about state losses. However, he did not specify it specifically.

"We are investigating the state's financial losses, yes," he told reporters, Monday evening, December 15.

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As previously reported, the KPK has issued a general investigation order (sprindik) for alleged corruption in adding quotas and organizing the hajj. This institution reasoned that the issuance was carried out so that they could carry out coercive efforts.

The Sprindik general uses Article 2 Paragraph 1 and/or Article 3 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Corruption as amended by Law Number 20 of 2021 jo article 55 paragraph 1-1 of the Criminal Code. This means that there is state loss that occurs due to this corrupt practice.

The state's losses in the 2023-2024 quota and Hajj corruption cases are said to have reached more than Rp1 trillion. This number is still increasing because it is only the initial count of the KPK which continues to coordinate with the Financial Supervisory Board (BPK).

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

However, recently 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, according to the law, the distribution should be 92 percent for regular hajj and 8 percent for special hajj.