Pre-trial hearing for former Minister of Foreign Affairs Yaqut vs KPK postponed until March 3, 2026

JAKARTA - The South Jakarta District Court judge stated that the pretrial hearing of the former Minister of Religion, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas regarding the determination of the suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in the case of alleged corruption of additional Hajj quotas for the implementation of the 2023-2024 Hajj pilgrimage was postponed on Tuesday, March 3.

"So our trial is postponed to next Tuesday, March 3, 2026. We will call at 10.00 WIB," said Judge Sulistyo Muhammad Dwi Putro in a pretrial hearing at the South Jakarta District Court, Antara, Tuesday, February 24.

The judge said this delay was related to the request of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) which sent a letter dated February 19 requesting a postponement next week.

He emphasized that he would call the KPK for the second or last time according to the applicable rules.

"We will call the KPK for the second or last time, that's the rule twice. If the KPK does not attend on the 3rd, we will continue the trial," he said.

The pretrial hearing of the former Minister of Religion, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, is scheduled for 10.00 WIB at the South Jakarta District Court.

Former Minister of Religion, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, has filed a pretrial application to the South Jakarta District Court (PN) regarding the determination of suspects by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in the alleged corruption case of additional Hajj quotas for the implementation of the 2023-2024 Hajj.

Yaqut filed the application on Tuesday (10/2) and was registered with the case number: 19/Pid.Pra/2026/PN JKT.SEL.

The SIPP of the South Jakarta District Court does not display the complete petitum that was requested, including the name of the single judge who will examine and try the case is not yet known.

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has confirmed that former Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas (YCQ) is a suspect in a case of alleged corruption related to the determination of quotas and the implementation of the 2023-2024 Hajj pilgrimage at the Ministry of Religion in January 2026.

Previously, on August 9, 2025, the KPK announced that it had started investigating the alleged corruption case of the Hajj quota and said it was communicating with the Indonesian Financial Supervisory Agency to calculate the state's losses.

On August 11, 2025, the KPK announced that the initial calculation of state losses in the case reached more than Rp1 trillion and prevented three people from traveling abroad for the next six months.

Those who were prevented were former Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Ishfah Abidal Aziz alias Gus Alex as a former special staff in the era of Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil, and Fuad Hasan Masyhur as the owner of the Maktour Hajj organizing bureau.

On September 18, 2025, the KPK suspected that as many as 13 associations and 400 Hajj travel agencies were involved in the case.

In addition to being handled by the KPK, the DPR RI Hajj Inquiry Committee had previously stated that it had found a number of irregularities in the implementation of the 2024 hajj.

The main point highlighted by the committee was the 50-50 quota sharing of the allocation of 20,000 additional quotas provided by the Saudi Government.

At that time, the Ministry of Religion divided an additional quota of 10,000 for regular hajj and 10,000 for special hajj.

This is not in accordance with Article 64 of Law Number 8 of 2019 concerning the Implementation of the Hajj and Umrah, which regulates a special hajj quota of eight percent, while 92 percent is for the regular hajj quota.