KPK Suspects There Is an Attempt to Condition the DPR RI Haji Pansus by the Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has revealed that there has been an attempt to condition the Special Hajj Committee (Pansus) in the House of Representatives of the Republic of Indonesia by the former Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas. This money comes from the special haj (PIHK) organizers who deposit so that prospective pilgrims can leave without having to queue or T-nol/TX.

The Deputy for Enforcement and Execution of the KPK, Asep Guntur Rahayu, revealed that the fee collected ranged from US$ 4,000-5,000 per pilgrim or Rp. 67.5 million to Rp. 84.4 million at the exchange rate at that time. It was the former staff, specifically, Ishfah Abidal Azis or Gus Alex who ordered the collection of money by his subordinates.

The Hajj Commission was formed by members of the Indonesian Parliament to investigate the implementation of the 2023-2024 Hajj in the era of Yaqut.

"The request for fee or commitment fee or other fees to PIHK at the 2023 and 2024 Hajj organizers was carried out at the order of the IAA," Asep said at a press conference at the KPK's Red and White building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta, Thursday, March 12.

"The money from the collection of fees is also suspected of being used to condition the Hajj Sub-Committee, which is known to YCQ," he continued.

In addition, there are efforts to return money that has already been collected.

"When information was spread that the DPR would form a Hajj Sub-Committee around July 2024, the IAA ordered the Sub-Directorate to return the money that had been collected to the association or PIHK," he said.

"However, some of the fee money is still being saved and used for personal interests of YCQ."

Meanwhile, during the question and answer session, Asep said the DPR RI Hajj Commission rejected the conditioning effort. There are intermediaries who are tasked with handing over money with a nominal of millions of US dollars.

"There is a perantara, the amount of money is around 1 million US dollars," he said.

As previously reported, the KPK officially detained the former Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas on Thursday, March 12. This arrest was carried out after he was named a suspect in the corruption case of determining quotas and organizing the 2023-2024 hajj at the Ministry of Religion together with staff, especially Ishfah Abidal Azis alias Gus Alex.

This alleged corruption began with the provision of 20,000 additional Hajj quotas from the Saudi Arabian government to Indonesia in 2023-2024.

Based on Law Number 8 of 2019 concerning the Implementation of the Hajj and Umrah and the results of the agreement of the Panja Meeting of Commission VIII of the DPR RI, the special hajj quota should be set at 8 percent of the total quota, while the remaining 92 percent is intended for regular hajj.

However, Yaqut as the Minister of Religion at that time was suspected of unilaterally changing its composition.

Using the maneuver of issuing a Minister of Religious Affairs Decree (KMA) that was not transparently disseminated, Yaqut divided the additional Hajj quota into a 50 percent scheme for regular Hajj and 50 percent for special Hajj.

Meanwhile, Ishfah Abidal Aziz implemented the policy by easing the rules for special hajj pilgrims.

He arranged for the filling of the remaining special hajj quota to be handed over to the proposed Special Hajj Service (PIHK) or travel agents. In fact, there should be an order of departure according to the national order number according to the law.

In return for these accelerated facilities, Gus Alex instructed his subordinates to collect illegal levies or fees from travel parties, which were ultimately imposed on prospective special pilgrims.

In 2023, the amount of the fee is pegged at USD5,000 or around Rp84.4 million per pilgrim.

Meanwhile, in the 2024 Hajj, the collection rate was agreed at least USD2,000 to USD2,500 per pilgrim.

The billions of rupiah from the collection of fees are suspected to have flowed into the pockets of Gus Yaqut, Gus Alex, and a number of other officials in the Ministry of Religion.

As a result of the actions of the two, the state is said to have lost up to IDR 622 billion. They were then suspected of violating Article 2 (1) and or Article 3 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Corruption as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 jo Article 55 paragraph (1) of the Criminal Code.