Examined By The KPK For Almost 8 Hours, Former Treasurer Of Amphuri Denies Being Questioned About Deposits To Get Hajj Quota

Former Treasurer of the Muslim Association of Indonesian Hajj and Umrah Organizers (Amphuri) Tauhid Hamdi//PHOTO: Wardhany Tsa Tsia-VOI

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has finished examining the former Treasurer of the Muslim Association of Indonesian Hajj and Umrah Organizers (Amphuri) Tauhid Hamdi today. Investigators asked for his testimony as a witness in the quota corruption case and the implementation of Hajj in 2023-2024 at the Ministry of Religion.

From field observations, Tauhid left the KPK's Red and White building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta at around 17.28 WIB. He underwent examination since 08.44 WIB or for 8 hours.

After being questioned, Tauhid admitted that he was asked about the Amphuri. Investigators also investigated his duties and functions as treasurer.

"About the organization, we were asked about the duties and functions of the treasurer of the association," Tauhid told reporters.

Meanwhile, when asked about the deposit from the association to the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) to get an additional special hajj quota, Tauhid did not talk much. The claim is that investigators did not explore the question of the money.

Moreover, Tauhid no longer served as treasurer when this alleged corruption occurred.

"That's not asked by the KPK. (Amphuri gets a quota, ed) I don't know, right," he said.

"Because I wasn't in Amphuri anymore at that additional quota. So I don't know how much Amphuri can get," he continued.

Meanwhile, Acting Deputy for Enforcement and Execution of the KPK Asep Guntur Rahayu said dozens of associations and 400 travel agents or travel agents of special hajj service providers involved in alleged corruption in quotas and the implementation of Hajj in 2023-2024 at the Ministry of Religion. This condition prevented the determination of the suspect from being carried out.

"Initially there were two associations, they have added more, it turns out that they have added 11. This information continues, there are 13 associations," Asep told reporters quoted on Friday, September 19.

This association is said to be an active party lobbying the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) regarding the distribution of 20,000 additional hajj quotas from the Government of Saudi Arabia.

After that, the distribution of additional quotas based on the Decree (SK) of the Minister of Religion signed by Yaqut Cholil Qoumas was felt by hundreds of travel.

"It was almost 400 trips that made this investigation also a long time ago and people were impatient, 'why can't it be conveyed (the suspect, ed)'," said Asep, who also serves as Director of KPK Investigations.

"We really have to have firms from each of them and this is different, each of which sells different quotas," 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 in 2023-2024. This institution reasoned that the issuance was carried out so that they could make forced efforts such as searches, confiscations and witness examinations.

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 the queues of 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.