Attorney for Simpulkan, the Determination of the Suspect Yaqut, Violates the New KUHAP Procedure-

JAKARTA - The lawyer for former Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas concluded that the establishment of a suspect by the KPK against his client was flawed in procedure. According to Yaqut's lawyer, the establishment of a suspect by the KPK also violated the new Criminal Procedure Code.

In his conclusion, Yaqut's lawyer said the determination of a suspect against his client was flawed in procedure, because it was stated in the KPK Leadership Decision. This is not in accordance with Article 90 paragraph (1) of the new Criminal Procedure Code, which stipulates that the determination of a suspect is carried out by the investigator.

The conclusion was based on the statements of legal experts who were present in the pretrial hearing of Yaqut. One of them, namely the expert in state administrative law who was presented by the KPK as the Respondent, Immanuel Sudjatmoko.

"In the trial, the state administrative law expert presented by the Respondent, namely Prof. Immanuel Sudjatmoko, S.H., M.S. actually confirmed that the government's authority cannot be created by officials themselves, but must be obtained through legal means: attribution, delegation, or mandate," said the legal team. Yaqut, quoted from the conclusion that the file was submitted to the pretrial judge at the South Jakarta District Court, Monday, March 9.

"Even the Expert submitted by the Respondent added that changes or amendments to laws can be a legitimate cause of the loss of authority of government officials, especially if the amendment material explicitly removes the old instrument of authority," added Yaqut's lawyer.

In addition, Yaqut's lawyer concluded that the KPK did not implement the provisions of Article 90 paragraph (2) of the new Criminal Code. This conclusion is based on the views of KPK criminal law experts and state administrative law experts from Yaqut's side.

As stated in Article 90 paragraph (2) of the Criminal Procedure Code, the letter of determination of the suspect must be given to the suspect. However, according to the lawyer, Yaqut also never received a letter of determination of the suspect from the KPK, and only received a letter of notification of the determination of the suspect.

"This fact was actually confirmed by the Criminal Expert submitted by the Respondent, namely Prof. DR. Erdianto Effendi, S.H., M.HUM., who explained that the determination of the suspect referred to in Article 90 paragraph (2) of the New Criminal Procedure Code was stated in the Letter of Determination of the Suspect which was signed by the Investigator and notified to the Suspect no later than 1 day since the Letter of Determination of the Suspect was stated," said the legal team of Yaqut.

Meanwhile, the state administrative law expert from Yaqut's party, Oce Madril, emphasized that the KPK must submit a letter of determination of suspects to Yaqut.

"The expert also emphasized that if a notification letter of the determination of a suspect is delivered without attaching the letter of determination of the suspect itself, then the action is contrary to Article 90 of the New Criminal Procedure Code, because the document that must be delivered to the addressee is the main document, namely the Letter of Determination of the Suspect," said lawyer Yaqut.

Yaqut was named a suspect by the KPK on January 8, 2026. Yaqut received a letter of notification of the determination of the suspect from the KPK on January 9, 2026. Yaqut admitted that he had not received a letter of determination of the suspect from the KPK until the end of February 2026.