Firm Denial! Khalid Basalamah Claims No Interaction with Former Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut

Jakarta, VIVA – The owner of the hajj travel bureau PT Zahra Oto Mandiri or Uhud Tour, Khalid Zeed Abdullah Basalamah or Khalid Basalamah, has emphasised that he has never interacted with the former Minister of Religious Affairs (Menag) Yaqut Cholil Qoumas.

This was stated by Khalid after undergoing examination as a witness in the hajj quota corruption case at the KPK’s Merah Putih Building, South Jakarta, on Thursday, 23 April 2026.

“There are names here that I have never interacted with, such as the former minister of religious affairs; I don’t know about his special staff,” Khalid told reporters.

Khalid explained that he complied with the KPK’s summons in his capacity as chairman of a hajj association.

“And today I was called in my capacity as Chairman of the Mutiara Haji Association,” he clarified.

On that occasion, Khalid also claimed to have returned money amounting to Rp8.4 billion related to the hajj quota corruption case to the KPK.

“So PT Muhibbah returned the funds to us; we didn’t know what the money was for. The amount was around Rp8.4 billion or so. It was returned,” he explained.

Furthermore, Khalid elaborated that the money was returned from PT Muhibbah, the party that offered hajj departures to Khalid’s travel bureau.

“And when it was returned to us, we weren’t told what the money was. The money was just given. Then, when summoned by the KPK, the KPK said, ‘Ustadz, there is money from the visas.’ I said, ‘Yes, there is.’ ‘Ustadz, you must return it.’ I said, ‘Alright, we’ll return it.’ So, that money wasn’t kept by us. The money was given by Muhibbah, and we didn’t know what it was; when the KPK asked for it, we returned it as requested, that’s all,” Khalid concluded.