Haj scam may drag down two more ex-ministers

Haj scam may drag down two more ex-ministers

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The haj fund scandal involving billions of dollars at the
Ministry of Religious Affairs will likely implicate two other
former ministers Tarmidzi Taher and Tolchah Hasan.

The interdepartmental corruption eradication team has named as
a suspect in the case former religious affairs minister Said Aqil
Hussein Al-Munawar, who earlier demanded that Tarmidzi and
Tolchah, both his predecessors, be also summoned.

The team detained on Friday the ministry's director general of
Islamic guidance and haj management, Taufiq Kamil, as a suspect
after a marathon questioning session at the National Police
headquarters over the alleged misuse of trillions of rupiah
collected from pilgrims over the years.

Brig. Gen. Indarto, the police's anticorruption department
director, said on Sunday all people believed responsible for the
management of the money would be questioned, including Tarmidzi
and Tolchah.

Tarmidzi was the religious affairs minister from 1993 to 1998
during the Soeharto regime, when the collection of haj funds
started. His replacement, Tolchah, later held office for two
years from 1999, while Al-Munawar replaced Tolchah in 2001 for
three years before being replaced by the current administration
in October 2004.

Tarmidzi said on Sunday he was ready to explain the whole
issue of the haj fund scam if he was summoned by the police for
questioning.

He argued that the massive graft case was mainly caused by
individual faults instead of regulations, because the ministry
officials are required by law to hold a plenary meeting before
making decisions on how to use the funds.

The fund management board, chaired by the minister of
religious affairs, must also report the spending of the money
regularly to the President and the House of Representatives, he
added.

"The person who holds the responsibility for the funds has
committed a mistake in this case. It is unclear whether he did
not report the use of the funds to the President or whether he
violated the procedures," Tarmidzi was quoted by the detickom
news portal as saying.

Indarto added that other people from outside the ministry,
such as partner firms during haj pilgrimages, would also be
investigated.

"But we are starting from officials of the religious affairs
ministry," he said.

He said Taufiq Kamil was detained after the police found
evidence that he had used some of the funds for his own personal
benefit. However, Indarto declined to specify the amount.

Indarto dismissed reports that Taufiq had spent Rp 99 billion
of the haj funds for himself and that Al-Munawar pocketed Rp 98
billion.

Indarto said the investigators also found alleged markups in
the amounts of money taken allotted for basic food assistance for
14 provinces. He did not elaborate further.

The graft case only came to light recently after the
Development Finance Controller (BPKP) submitted an audit report
that discovered a series of irregularities in the haj fund
management at the religious affairs ministry.

The BPKP was still auditing several bank accounts belonging to
the ministry, many of which were recently frozen by the police.

Under the prevailing law, the haj pilgrimage funds must be
kept in one account and used for the benefits of pilgrims during
their stay in Saudi Arabia.

But the investigation showed that the funds had been deposited
in a number of bank accounts, some of which had no connection
with the annual pilgrimage.

Separately, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker
Hidayat Nur Wahid said on Sunday that the haj funds should not be
managed by an agency that lacked transparency.

"There must be a system to make sure that the funds would not
be used for any other purposes rather than haj pilgrims," he told
Antara.

Hidayat also urged all religious ministry officials to
cooperate with the police, the Corruption Eradication Corruption
(KPK) and also other law enforcement officials to solve the case.