Court rejects Yaqut's request for house arrest
The panel of judges at the Corruption Court of the Central Jakarta District Court has rejected former Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas’s request to have his detention status changed from detention centre custody to house arrest.
Presiding Judge Ni Kadek Susantiani said during the hearing on Tuesday that the medical needs cited as the basis for Yaqut’s request can still be met at the state detention centre by the Corruption Eradication Commission.
“Because his needs are only two things, we cannot yet grant the request,” said Ni Kadek.
She explained that Yaqut filed the request for a change in detention status after undergoing surgery because he requires regular medication and wound cleaning.
According to the judge, both of these needs can still be met at the detention centre, so a change in detention status is not necessary.
The judge further explained that a doctor will determine whether Yaqut requires inpatient or outpatient care according to his medical condition.
Regarding the referral to take Yaqut to the surgical clinic because of the risk of infection, the judge said the defence team may submit a request for permission for outpatient treatment.
“We must first examine the submission because we do not know the doctor’s diagnosis regarding the defendant’s condition,” she said.
Yaqut is one of the defendants in the alleged corruption case concerning the 2023-2024 Indonesian hajj quota. In this case, he is charged with causing state financial losses amounting to Rp622.09 billion.
Yaqut is accused of diverting and arranging the allocation of the additional special hajj quota for 2024 by 50 percent without a technical study basis.
The act was allegedly carried out together with his former special staff member Ishfah Abidal Aziz, also known as Gus Alex, Maktour Operations Director Ismail Adham, and former General Chairman of the Indonesian Hajj and Umrah Travel Association Asrul Aziz Taba.
Prosecutors stated that the filling of the additional special hajj quota was carried out to accommodate requests from the Special Hajj Organisers association, accompanied by the receipt of acceleration fees from pilgrims and special hajj officers.
Other losses stemmed from the special hajj organiser’s receipt of proceeds from the sale of the 2024 special hajj officer quota amounting to Rp39.95 billion, as well as acceleration fees for filling the additional special hajj quota in 2023 and 2024 amounting to Rp143.92 billion.
In this case, several parties are said to have been enriched, including Yaqut by 271,500 US dollars, equivalent to Rp4.83 billion.
For his actions, Yaqut is charged with violating Article 603 in conjunction with Article 20 letter c of the National Criminal Code, or Article 3 in conjunction with Article 18 of Law Number 31 of 1999 as amended by Law Number 20 of 2001 concerning the Eradication of Corruption.