After being examined by the KPK, the former Minister of Religion Yaqut closed his mouth about the additional Hajj quota for Maktour.

Former Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas after being examined by the KPK. / Photo: Wardhany Tsa Tsia-VOI

JAKARTA - Former Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas was stingy after undergoing an examination at the Red and White Building of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta today. He also kept his mouth shut about the claim of Maktour boss, Fuad Hasan Masyhur who only received a small additional quota for the 2023-2024 hajj.

From monitoring at the location, Yaqut completed his examination as a witness to the corruption case on the determination of quotas and the implementation of the 2023-2024 hajj pilgrimage at the Ministry of Religion at around 17.40 WIB, Friday, January 30. He initially explained that he had given information to the KPK investigators.

"I conveyed what I knew, in full, yes, to the investigator," said Yaqut, who underwent a 4.5-hour examination.

Yaqut did not answer further questions about his examination. He was also silent when asked about Fuad Hasan's claim that Maktour only received a slightly additional quota for the Hajj from the Ministry of Religion.

This claim was made by Fuad when he underwent an examination on Monday, January 26. At that time, the businessman even said that the quota for the Maktour special hajj quota had drastically decreased in 2024.

Meanwhile, Mellisa Anggraeni as Yaqut's lawyer denied that her client arranged the distribution of the haj quota without a strong basis. "No, that's a lie," he said.

"If the quota determination is indeed in accordance with the legal aspect," continued Mellisa.

As previously reported, the KPK has 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 determination of the suspect was made later, because the KPK investigated the alleged corruption by using a general investigation order (sprindik) issued on August 7, 2025.

The Sprindik general uses Article 2 Paragraph 1 and/or Article 3 of Law Number 31 of 1999 concerning the Eradication of Corruption as amended by Law Number 20 of 2021 jo article 55 paragraph 1-1 of the Criminal Code. This means that there is state loss that occurs due to this corrupt practice.

The KPK said that the state's losses in the 2023-2024 quota and Hajj management corruption cases were said to have reached more than Rp. 1 trillion. 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, 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, 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.