Former Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas Lebaran at the KPK Detention Center 

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) officially announced the detention of former Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas today. He will celebrate Eid al-Fitr 1447 Hijriah or go on vacation in the detention house (prison).

"The KPK has detained the suspect YCQ for the first 20 days starting from March 12-31, 2026," said Deputy Head of the KPK's Enforcement and Execution Department Asep Guntur Rahayu at a press conference at the KPK's Red and White building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta, Thursday, March 12.

"The detention was carried out at the Red and White KPK building branch detention house (Rutan)," he continued.

In this case, the KPK also named another suspect. He is Ishfah Abidal Azis or Gus Alex who is a former staff in particular.

However, Ishfah has not been detained. The two are suspected of having harmed state finances, which, according to the calculations of the Financial Audit Agency (BPK), amounted to IDR 622 billion.

As a result of their actions, the two were suspected of violating Article 2 paragraph (1) and/or Article 3 of Law No. 31 of 1999 Jo. Article 18 of Law No. 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Corruption Crimes as amended by Law No. 20 of 2001 concerning Changes to Law No. 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Corruption Crimes Jo. Article 55 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code.

Meanwhile, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas claimed that the discretion in distributing the hajj quota made him a suspect solely for the safety of the hajj pilgrims.

This statement was made by Yaqut after officially wearing the orange KPK prisoner uniform. He was detained after being questioned as a suspect in the alleged corruption in determining quotas and the organization of the 2023-2024 hajj.

"I do all of these policies solely for the safety of the congregation," said Yaqut before getting into the prisoner's car.

Yaqut also stated on that occasion that he had never enjoyed the flow of money from the results of the discretionary distribution of additional Hajj quotas.

"I never received a penny from the case that was alleged against me," he said.

As previously reported, the South Jakarta District Court (PN) rejected the pretrial lawsuit filed by former Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas regarding the legality or not of the determination of suspects in the corruption of quotas and the implementation of the 2023-2024 hajj by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

The verdict was read by Single Judge of the PN Jaksel, Sulistyo Muhammad Dwi Putro, today, March 11. The application was rejected in its entirety.

"To be judged: in the main case: to reject the application of the Pre-trial Applicant for all of them," said Sulistyo when reading the verdict.

The judge said the establishment of a suspect against Yaqut was in accordance with the Constitutional Court (MK) decision and the Supreme Court Regulation (Perma) Number 4 of 2016.

The pre-trial 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 two are suspected of causing state losses in the process of determining the Hajj quota according to the calculations of the Financial Audit Agency (BPK).

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, later 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.