Khalid Basalamah Called KPK Shifted To Special Hajj Because Furoda Visa Did Not Come To Terbit

Acting Deputy For Enforcement And Execution Of The KPK Asep Guntur Rahayu/PHOTO: Wardhany Tsa Tsia-VOI

JAKARTA - The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) revealed that the preacher and owner of PT Zahra Oto Mandiri (Uhud Tour), Khalid Zeed Abdullah Basalamah or Khalid Basalamah replaced his congregation with a special quota because the furode visa used never issued.

Acting (Plt) Deputy for Enforcement and Execution of the KPK Asep Guntur Rahayu said the issuance of this visa is usually the last. However, prospective pilgrims do not necessarily get a furode allotment.

"If the Furode Hajj does depart in the same year, even though it's more expensive, the payment is like that. But this visa, the Hajj visa (Furoda, ed) is not certain, because usually it's late," Asep told reporters, Friday, September 19.

This condition then made Khalid shift his congregation when he received a special hajj quota offer. "The Ministry of Religion employee made sure to the Ustadz KB that there is a furoda (hajj, red), then (hajj, red) specifically and this must go this year too," he said.

In addition, Khalid also made a shift because of the location of the maktab. He suspects other Hajj travel agencies are using the same method to get candidates for special Hajj pilgrims.

Maktab is an office or institution appointed by the Saudi Arabian government to provide various services for pilgrims from certain countries, including Indonesia.

"Secondly, this is close to the reality, the reality is that it is close to a new place, it doesn't need to be far away from the Mina, the shift is not too far away, that's what makes it, this is specifically for Ustaz Khalid Basalamah," said Asep.

Khalid Basalamah admitted that he was examined by the KPK as a witness because he departed as a pilgrim along with hundreds of other people. They said they would initially leave using a furode visa.

However, he shifted to a special pilgrimage whose quota turned out to be problematic because he received an offer from Ibnu Masud who is a Commissioner of PT Muhibbah Mulia Wisata. Khalid also claimed that Uhud Tour could not dispatch pilgrims because it was not a travel agent or travel agent for special Hajj organizers (PIHK).

"The language is Ibnu Masud to us, PT Muhibbah (can, red) an additional quota of 20,000 from the Ministry of Religion. Because we received an official discussion from the Ministry of Religion and I was registered as a congregation at PT Muhibbah," he told reporters after undergoing examination, Tuesday, September 9.

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.