Former Minister Of Religion Yaqut Cholil Qoumas Irit Talks After Being Examined By KPK Investigators Regarding Corruption Hajj Quota

Former Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas after being questioned by the KPK/? PHOTO: Wardhany Tsa Tsia-VOI

JAKARTA - Former Minister of Religion (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas did not say much after being questioned by investigators from the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) regarding the alleged corruption of quotas and the implementation of Hajj in 2023-2024 at the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag).

He admitted that he was only being investigated regarding the information he had conveyed during the investigation stage.

"Only deepening the information I conveyed at the previous examination. So, there is an in-depth investigation," Yaqut told reporters at the KPK's Merah Putih building, Kuningan Persada, South Jakarta, Monday, September 1.

From observations in the field, Yaqut came out at around 16.18 WIB. He was checked for almost seven hours.

Yaqut claimed to have received dozens of questions from investigators. When asked about the distribution of 20,000 additional hajj quotas from the troubled Saudi Arabian government, the former minister of the era of the 7th President of the Republic of Indonesia Joko Widodo (Jokowi) did not want to talk much.

"The material was asked by investigators. ... I conveyed information about the investigation related to what was asked at the first examination," he said.

After answering reporters' questions, Yaqut chose to rush into a black Toyota Fortuner. He did not make any additional statements.

Yaqut is known to have been questioned by the KPK when the investigation process was carried out.

At that time, he admitted that he explained the problem of distributing 20,000 additional hajj quotas from the Saudi Arabian government to break up the queues for Indonesian pilgrims.

Meanwhile, when he entered the investigation stage, Yaqut was then prevented from leaving the country with two other people. The travel ban is intended so that investigators can easily ask for information.

In addition, at the investigation stage, Yaqut's house had also been searched and a number of evidences were found, including cellphones. This finding will later be extracted and examined by investigators.

As for this case, the KPK has also investigated Ishfah Abidal Azis alias Gus Alex as Yaqut's special staff while serving as Minister of Religion. He was questioned about the distribution of problematic hajj quotas.

Previously reported, the KPK has issued a general investigation warrant (sprindik) for alleged corruption in the addition of quotas and the implementation of Hajj. 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, 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, based on the law, the distribution should be 92 percent for regular Hajj and 8 percent for special Hajj.