Yaqut's lawyer: State losses in the Hajj quota case have not been determined by the BPK when the suspect was appointed

JAKARTA - The lawyer for former Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas said that the state's losses in the alleged corruption case for additional Hajj quotas for the implementation of the 2023-2024 Hajj were not determined by the Financial Audit Agency (BPK).

"The state's losses are proven through the Investigative Audit Statement on state financial losses based on the Supreme Court Circular (SEMA) Number 2 of 2024, emphasizing the authority to determine state losses constitutionally is only the Indonesian Republic's Financial Supervisory Agency," said Yaqut's lawyer, Melissa Anggraeni, Wednesday, March 4.

Reading the reply to the answer of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) at the South Jakarta District Court, Melissasaat said that in corruption cases, state losses were an important element that must be proven in a tangible and certain manner before a person was named a suspect.

He said that until January 8, 2026, there was no evidence that showed a clear calculation of state losses related to the case.

"There is not a single piece of evidence up to January 8, 2026 that shows any calculation of state financial losses, either regarding the magnitude of the losses, the origin or the consequences of the losses," he said.

According to him, the state's losses must be proven through an investigative audit conducted by the authorized institution, namely the BPK.

"Because Articles 2 and 3 of the Corruption Law have been interpreted as material delicts through the 2016 Supreme Court Decision 25, the element of state loss must be real," he said.

Yaqut's lawyer also emphasized that there was no clear report of state losses, including the absence of a date in the audit results.

Based on information provided by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to a number of media, the calculation of state losses is still in the process of deepening.

"This means that the statement of results of examination based on the examination of the authorized financial audit state institution is never there," he said.

Therefore, his party assessed that the determination of a suspect against Yaqut did not meet the requirements for sufficient evidence as stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Code.

"Thus, when the suspect was determined, there were no relevant evidence against the state element," he said.

The pretrial hearing tested the validity of the determination of the suspect against Yaqut Cholil Qoumas by the KPK.

In his petition, the applicant asked the judge to declare the determination of the suspect against Yaqut invalid and not legally binding.

Previously, the KPK said that the state's losses in the alleged corruption case for additional haj quotas for the implementation of the 2023-2024 haj with the suspect, former Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, reached Rp. 622 billion.

In his answer, the KPK said that the designation of Gus Yaqut as a suspect in the Hajj quota case was in accordance with legal procedures because it had met the minimum requirement of two valid evidence. In fact, more than 40 people have been questioned in accordance with the Report of Request for Information on behalf of Yaqut Cholil Qoumas.

Then, the KPK Legal Team added, the determination of the suspect Gus Yaqut has gone through a series of data, information, information and clues collection processes so that the requirement for sufficient evidence through two pieces of evidence has been met.