Al-Munawar detained over haj fund scandal

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

After three marathon rounds of questioning, police detained on Thursday former religious affairs minister Said Agil Hussein Al-Munawar for his alleged role in the haj funds scandal.

Investigators said Al-Munawar's detention was necessary to help them get to the bottom of an alleged scandal involving the misuse of unused haj funds amounting to at least Rp 684 billion (US$72 million).

Former director general of Islamic guidance and haj management, Taufiq Kamil, had been detained earlier.

Head of the interdepartmental anticorruption team, Hendarman Supandji, who is also the deputy attorney general for special crimes at the Attorney General's Office (AGO), told reporters that the former minister issued a decree in 2002 which justified the use of haj funds to support the ministry's budget for miscellaneous purposes, which is widely regarded as being prone to abuse.

Hendarman said he, as well as the fraud squad chief at National Police Headquarters, Brig. Gen. Indarto, had recommended that Al-Munawar be detained due to incriminating prima facie evidence linking him to the case.

"Our investigators found proof that he violated the Anticorruption Law (No. 31/1999) by tapping state funds to enrich himself and others," Hendarman said.

The alleged scam came to the public's attention after an audit by the Finance Development Comptroller (BPKP) on the ministry's accounts found several irregularities in the management of haj funds.

The funds, which are supposed to be deposited in one account and used only for the benefit of haj pilgrims, were in fact deposited in separate accounts and used to finance activities unrelated to the haj, including augmenting the ministry budget and improving the welfare of ministry employees.

Al-Munawar admitted there were flaws in the procedures contained in the decree, which bypassed the ministry's secretary- general.

"After I talked to the ministry's secretary-general, Faisal Ismail, I found out that the decree had not been properly issued as it was only signed by the director general of Islamic guidance and haj management," Al-Munawar said.

All decrees should be signed by both the relevant director general and the secretary-general.

However, Al-Munawar failed to explain why he only admitted the mistake after an investigation had been launched into the scandal.

Al-Munawar's lawyer Ayuk Fadlun Sahab said he would inform the investigators about the flaws so that they could verify his client's explanations with the secretary general.

Also on Thursday, investigators resumed the questioning of Taufiq. His lawyer, Adya Daswanta, said his client had been asked about the disbursement of haj funds, the setting of haj pilgrimage costs and the procedures for issuing ministerial decrees.

However, Adiya refused to respond to Al-Munawar's accusation that his client violated the procedures for the issuance of a decree.

Separately, Muhammadiyah chairman Ahmad Syafii Maarif admitted that the organization received Rp 500 million from the religious affairs ministry three years ago.

"The money was given to support Muhammadiyah. But we don't know whether the money was taken from the haj funds or not as the ministry did not give us any information about it," Syafii was quoted by Antara as saying.