TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Four umrah (minor haj) travel agents are under a suspicion of taking illegal levies from their clients. The four travel agents with the initials of KTRI, AMHRI, ARD, and HPH allegedly charged US$15 visa fee per client.

Such practices have been banned by the Ministry of Religious Affairs since November 2016.

“There are strong indications of illegal levies practiced by four Umrah travel agents,” National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) alumnus Bayu Saputra Muslimin said during a press conference in Jakarta on Sunday, May 21, 2017.

About 635,000 people conducted umrah in 2016. With US$15 charged per client, the amount of money reaped by the four travel agents would be huge.

Another Lemhanas alumnus, Puspa Kemala, said that they received reports related to the illegal levies directly from a number of clients victimized by the four travel agents.

“We also received a number of complaints from 30 companies that actually don’t want to participate in the illegal activity,” Puspa revealed.

According to Puspa, these 30 companies could not do much considering that they were pressured from the corrupt associations. Puspa suspects that the profit went directly to the associations.

Lemhanas alumnus plan to report the practice to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

AMIRULLAH SUHADA