Ex-minister deemed responsible for haj fund misuse

Ex-minister deemed responsible for haj fund misuse

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Investigators began on Tuesday the inquiry of former minister of
religious affairs Said Agil Hussein Al-Munawar, who they believe
was responsible for the misuse of huge sums of haj funds while in
office.

Al-Munawar faced the music for the first time since police
named him a suspect last week in the alleged scam which may have
seen the embezzlement of over a trillion rupiah. During the
questioning, which lasted eight hours, the investigators quizzed
Al-Munawar about policies he made during his term as a minister
between 2001 and 2004.

The director of the fraud unit at the National Police
headquarters Brig. Gen. Indarto said that the ex-minister was
ultimately responsible for the misuse as he had held the highest
authority in the ministry.

"We have confiscated several documents belonging to the
ministry and frozen the ministry's bank accounts," Indarto said.
"We are currently studying dozens of ministerial decrees he (Al-
Munawar) issued during his term to see whether there was anything
to justify the use of the haj funds for spending unrelated to haj
affairs."

The alleged misuse revolves around the Development Finance
Comptroller Agency (BPKP) findings of irregularities in the
management of unused haj pilgrimage funds by the ministry.

So far, BPKP has not finished the audit, but it has predicted
that the case might involve nearly a trillion rupiah.

According to the law, the unused haj pilgrimage funds must be
kept in one account and used for the benefit of the pilgrims,
however, the funds were found to be allocated for a number
eyebrow-raising expenditures, wholly unrelated to the haj
pilgrimage; items that seemed to be geared more toward enriching
ministry officials.

The interdepartmental anticorruption team has also named the
ministry's former director general of Islamic guidance and haj
management Taufiq Kamil a suspect.

Critics stated earlier that the ministry was prone to
corruption as it held the monopoly to organize the pilgrimage for
decades. An average of 200,000 mostly working class Indonesians
perform the pilgrimage every year after paying the ministry of Rp
25 million each.

Head of the team Hendarman Supandji said that Al-Munawar would
be detained once the investigators found incriminating evidence
of his involvement in the scam.

Al-Munawar's lawyer Sugeng Teguh Santoso said his client had
followed the regulations and had consulted with the House of
Representatives over the use of the haj funds.

"Even if the ministry decided to disburse the funds, it would
not violate any regulations and there was no misuse of the funds
as they were deposited in the accounts frozen by the police," he
argued.

In response, Indarto said the investigators found that
ministry officials consulted with the House only on the amount to
charge people for the haj fees.

Indarto said the police would verify the matter with the
lawmakers.

The investigators also plan to question former religious
ministers Tarmidzi Taher and Tolchah Hassan.