During his tenure as Minister of Religion, Yaqut sent 241,000 pilgrims to perform the Hajj.

Yaqut Cholil Qoumas/DOK ANTARA

JAKARTA - Yaqut Cholil Qoumas revealed that during his tenure as Minister of Religion (Menag) he had sent 241,000 pilgrims to Mecca.

He made the confession in response to the pretrial hearing for the determination of suspects by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) in the case of alleged corruption of additional Hajj quotas for the implementation of the 2023-2024 Hajj pilgrimage.

"Gus Yaqut has managed to send the largest number of pilgrims, 241,000 pilgrims," said Yaqut's lawyer, Melissa Anggraini at the South Jakarta District Court, Tuesday, February 24.

Melissa said the 241,000 pilgrims consisted of 213,320 regular hajj pilgrims and only 27,000 special hajj pilgrims.

This means, according to him, only 11 percent of special hajj pilgrims. He also regretted the allegation that the quota was divided equally 50-50.

"This means that only 11 percent of Hajj, in particular, but it is always echoed as if 50-50," said Melissa.

He also highlighted the misunderstanding in 2025, namely when officials or policymakers no longer dared to act so that there is no additional quota for Hajj.

Yaqut's lawyer also asked that the Saudi party and other Ministers of Religion be present at the trial to make a public statement.

"If I can get an additional quota of 20,000, where do I put the pilgrims? What is it for them in the end? The additional quota is not a blessing, but a disaster," said Melissa.

The first pretrial hearing for Yaqut was held on Tuesday at 10.30 WIB and was chaired by Judge Sulistyo Muhammad Dwi Putro.

The KPK defendant was not present so the trial was postponed until Tuesday, March 3, 2026.

Previously, on August 9, 2025, the KPK initiated an investigation into a case of alleged corruption in determining quotas and organizing the 2023-2024 Hajj pilgrimage at the Ministry of Religion.

On August 11, 2025, the KPK announced that the initial calculation of state losses in the case reached more than Rp1 trillion and prevented three people from traveling abroad for the next six months.

Those who were prevented were Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Ishfah Abidal Aziz alias Gus Alex, and Fuad Hasan Masyhur as the owner of the Maktour Hajj organizing bureau.

Then on January 9, 2026, the KPK announced that two of the three people who were prevented from becoming suspects in the alleged corruption case of the haj quota, namely Yaqut Cholil Qoumas (YCQ), and Ishfah Abidal Aziz (IAA).

However, Yaqut then filed a pretrial application for the determination of suspects to the South Jakarta District Court on February 10, 2026, and was registered with case number 19/Pid.Pra/2026/PN JKT.SEL.