Reportedly Immediately Announces Suspect In Hajj Quota Case, KPK Says This

Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Building

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) is reportedly soon announcing the suspect in the corruption case of quotas and the implementation of Hajj in 2023-2024 at the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag).

Based on the information gathered, the determination of the suspect in this case will be carried out in the near future. One of them, called from the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag).

The KPK is investigating this alleged corruption by using a general investigation warrant (sprindik). This means that there are no suspects yet, but investigators can already request information from witnesses or searches.

Meanwhile, when asked about the news, KPK spokesman Budi Prasetyo only said that no party had been named as a suspect. Investigators are still focused on examining witnesses, including former Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas.

Yaqut is known to have been worked on by investigators at the KPK's Merah Putih building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta on Monday, September 1 yesterday. He underwent examination for almost seven hours.

"So far, the examination of the person concerned is a witness," Budi told reporters quoted on Tuesday, September 2.

Budi emphasized that until now, the KPK is still using public spending in handling allegations of corruption in the hajj quota. "So there are no suspects yet," he said.

"Later we will inform you of the update if there are parties who have been named as suspects in this case," he continued.

Previously reported, the KPK has issued a general investigation warrant (sprindik) for alleged corruption in the addition of quotas and the implementation of Hajj. This institution reasoned that the issuance was carried out so that they could make forced efforts in the form of examining witnesses and searches.

The general Sprindik uses Article 2 Paragraph 1 and/or Article 3 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption as amended by Law Number 20 of 2021 in conjunction with Article 55 paragraph 1 of the Criminal Code. This means that there are state losses that occur due to this corrupt practice.

State losses in the corruption case of quota and Hajj for the period 2023-2024 are said to have reached more than IDR 1 trillion. This amount is still increasing because it is only the initial calculation of the KPK which continues to coordinate with the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK).

This case began with the provision of 20,000 additional Hajj quotas from the Saudi Arabian government for Indonesia to reduce queues for pilgrims.

However, recently 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, based on the law, the distribution should be 92 percent for regular Hajj and 8 percent for special Hajj.