Lawyer Says Yaqut Cholil Qoumas is a KPK Suspect Without Official Count of State Losses

JAKARTA - The determination of the suspect of the former Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in the corruption case of determining quotas and the implementation of the 2023-2024 hajj is considered invalid. Because, the process of calculating state losses is not carried out by the authorized institution.

"At the time of the determination of the suspect by the defendant, there was no evidence in the form of audit results/reports on the results of the calculation of state losses from the authorized institution," said Yaqut's lawyer, Mellisa Anggraeni, when reading the application in a pretrial hearing at the South Jakarta District Court (PN), Tuesday, March 3.

Yaqut's legal team assessed that the element of state loss in a corruption crime must be proven through actual and certain losses (actual loss).

"Therefore, valid evidence that is relevant to the element of state losses must be in the form of audit results or reports on the results of state loss calculations declared by the authorized institution," said Mellisa.

Furthermore, the legal team also referred to the statement made by the KPK to the media, which contained the calculation of state losses pending the results of the Financial Audit Agency (BPK) examination.

Therefore, this condition is considered an element of state loss that has not been fulfilled when the suspect is determined.

"Therefore, the determination of the suspect against the applicant by the respondent has not met the minimum requirement of sufficient evidence and therefore must be declared invalid and has no binding legal force."

As previously reported, the former Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas filed a pretrial to the South Jakarta District Court (PN) on Monday, February 10. The lawsuit was registered with the number 19/Pid.Pra/2026/PN.JKT.SEL.

This pretrial was filed after the KPK announced two suspects in the corruption case for determining quotas and organizing the 2023-2024 Hajj period at the Ministry of Religion. They are former Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas and staff in particular, Ishfah Abidal Aziz alias Gus Alex.

The determination of the suspect was made later, because the KPK investigated the alleged corruption by using a general investigation order (sprindik) issued on August 7, 2025.

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 KPK said that the state's losses in the 2023-2024 quota and Hajj management corruption cases were said to have reached more than Rp. 1 trillion. The suspicion began 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.

During the course of this case, a number of parties have been examined. Among them are former Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas to travel agents or travel agents who organize special hajj (PIHK), including Fuad Hasan Masyhur as the boss of Maktour.