Hajj Quota Corruption: Officials at Every Level of Religious Affairs Ministry Receive Their Cut, Says KPK
Reporter
September 10, 2025 | 09:37 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) stated that the corruption in the Hajj quota at the Ministry of Religious Affairs is not only enjoyed by a handful of officials, but officials at every level in the ministry also receive their share.
"We know that at each level, each person gets their own share," said the Acting Deputy of Enforcement and Execution of the KPK, Asep Guntur Rahayu, on Tuesday, September 9, 2025, as quoted from Antara.
Based on these findings, the KPK is now collecting money from the corrupt flow of Hajj quota, including those that have become assets, such as houses and vehicles, for confiscation.
Asep's explanation is related to the confiscation of two houses belonging to civil servants (ASN) at the Directorate General of Hajj and Umrah of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, with a total value reaching Rp6.5 billion related to the alleged corruption case in the Hajj quota.
The KPK suspects that the flow of corrupt money in the Hajj quota is distributed hierarchically, passing through trusted individuals, relatives, and even the expert staff of the Kemenag officials.
Previously, the KPK announced the initiation of an investigation into the alleged corruption in the determination of the hajj quota and its implementation at the Ministry of Religious Affairs in 2023-2024, on August 9, 2025.
The announcement was made by the KPK after questioning the former Minister of Religious Affairs, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, in the investigation of the case on August 7, 2025.
At that time, the KPK also stated that they were communicating with the Supreme Audit Agency (BPK) of the Republic of Indonesia to calculate the state financial losses in the hajj quota case.
On August 11, 2025, the KPK announced the initial calculation of state financial losses in the case to reach more than Rp1 trillion and prevented three people from traveling abroad, one of whom was the former Minister of Religious Affairs, Yaqut Cholil Qoumas.
In addition to being handled by the KPK, the Indonesian House of Representatives' Special Committee (Pansus) on Hajj previously stated that they had found several irregularities in the implementation of the 2024 Hajj pilgrimage.
The main point highlighted by the special committee was the allocation of the 50:50 quota from the additional allocation of 20,000 granted by the Saudi Arabian Government.
At that time, the Ministry of Religious Affairs divided the additional quota into 10,000 for regular hajj and 10,000 for special hajj.
This was inconsistent with Article 64 of Law Number 8 of 2019 concerning the Implementation of Hajj and Umrah, which stipulates a special hajj quota of 8 percent, with 92 percent for regular hajj.
Editor's Choice: KPK: Hajj Quota Corruption Prevents 8,400 Pilgrims from Traveling After 14 Years in Line
Click here to get the latest news updates from Tempo on Google News
