Prevention of Foreign Travel Former Minister of Foreign Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas Suspected of Corruption in Hajj Quota Extended

Former Minister of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas at the KPK building/DOK ANTARA FOTO/Indrianto Eko Suwarso/foc.

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has applied for an extension of prevention abroad for former Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas. He is not allowed to travel for the next six months.

"Yes, the KPK has extended the period of preventing going abroad," said KPK spokesperson Budi Prasetyo to reporters through his written statement, Thursday, February 19.

In addition to Yaqut, the KPK also extended the period of prevention of staff, namely Ishfah Abidal Aziz alias Gus Alex. They will be prohibited from traveling until August 12, 2026.

Meanwhile, for the boss of Maktour Travel, Fuad Hasan Masyhur, his detention period was not extended. Budi explained that investigators considered that prevention of the entrepreneur was no longer necessary.

"The extension to prevent going abroad is certainly based on the needs of the investigation process," he said.

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.