The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) Calls Khalid Basalamah's Refunds Regarding The Sales Of Hajj Quota

KPK Spokesperson Budi Prasetyo/PHOTO: Wardhany Tsa Tsia-VOI

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) agrees that the refunds made by Uhud Tour, Khalid Zeed Abdullah or Khalid Basalamah are related to allegations of corruption in quotas and the implementation of Hajj in 2023-2024 at the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag).

KPK spokesman Budi Prasetyo has not specified when the preacher will return the money. Likewise with the amount because verification is being carried out by investigators.

"So regarding the return of some money, we confirm that it is true, but we can't convey the amount yet," Budi told reporters at the KPK's Merah Putih building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta, Monday, September 15.

Even so, Budi said the return was related to the case being handled.

"Of course this is related to the sale of the hajj quota carried out by the Ustaz KB through its travel agency," he said.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the KPK, Setyo Budiyanto, also confirmed Khalid's refund. Even so, he could not specify how much money was returned.

"The number has not been verified," said Setyo to reporters when confirmed via text message.

Khalid is known to have been examined as a witness in this case on Tuesday, September 9.

At that time, he admitted to shifting the Hajj visa for his congregation from furoda to special Hajj whose quota turned out to be problematic because he got an offer from Ibnu Mas'ud who was a Commissioner of PT Muhibbah Mulia Wisata.

The preacher also admitted that he did not know that this special hajj quota was then problematic and the case was handled by the KPK.

"The language is Ibnu Masud to us, PT Muhibbah (can, red) an additional quota of 20,000 from the Ministry of Religion. Because we received an official discussion from the Ministry of Religion and I was registered as a congregation at PT Muhibbah," he told reporters after undergoing examination.

Previously reported, the KPK has issued a general investigation warrant (sprindik) for alleged corruption in the addition of quotas and the implementation of Hajj in 2023-2024. This institution reasoned that the issuance was carried out so that they could make forced efforts.

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, 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.

Later, the distribution of problems was allegedly due to money from the Hajj and Umrah travel parties as well as the associations that oversee the Ministry of Religion. After getting the allotment, they sold the additional quota to prospective pilgrims.