KPK Expert Acknowledges That There Is No Jurisprudence That States that the Hajj Quota Is Included in State Finances
Expert from the Indonesian Financial Supervisory Board (BPK) Najmatuzzahrah admitted that there was no jurisprudence stating that the Hajj quota was included in the scope of state finances.
This was stated by Najmatuzzahra when he was presented by the KPK as an expert in the pre-trial hearing of the former Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas at the South Jakarta District Court (PN), Friday, March 6.
"If for specific Hajj quotas, there may not be (the jurisprudence). But if the quota, the oil quota, for example, the oil import quota, vegetable oil, meat quota, meat imports, it can also be if you want to be jurisprudenced there," he said in the trial.
Najmatuzzahra's statement was in line with the argument of Yaqut's pretrial application. In his petition, Yaqut emphasized that the Hajj quota cannot be defined as state finances.
This was conveyed by Yaqut's lawyer, Mellisa Anggraeni, when reading the pretrial application at the South Jakarta District Court on March 3. The lawyer stated that the definition of state finances and state losses had been regulated in a limited manner in the State Finance Law, the State Treasury Law, and the BPK Law.
"The Hajj quota as an object of determining the suspect against the applicant is not included in the definition of State Finance as stipulated in Article 1 paragraph (1) and Article 2 of Law Number 17 of 2003 concerning State Finance," said Mellisa in the trial.
Regarding the assumption that the Hajj quota includes state finances, it was also highlighted by the Hajj and Umrah Commission. The Hajj and Umrah Commission questioned the status of the Hajj quota, whether it included state finances or not.
"There are many questions, for example, because we don't have the documents, for example, the question of the layman is where the figure of Rp. 600 billion is, right? How do you calculate it? Yes, right?" said Chairman of the National Commission for Hajj and Umrah Mustolih Siradj to reporters, Thursday, March 5.
"Not to mention whether this quota is in the category of state finances or not, right. Moreover, for example, the finances of the hajj have their own laws. There is Law Number 34 of 2014 concerning the Finance of Hajj," he added.
Yaqut's party has questioned the basis for the KPK's determination of suspects in the corruption case of determining quotas and the implementation of the 2023-2024 hajj. Yaqut's party considers that the object of the case does not include the definition of state finances, so it is considered outside the authority of the institution.
The lawyer team also said that the object of the case did not meet the elements of state losses as stipulated in the relevant laws and regulations regarding the state treasury and the BPK.