Hajj Quota Scandal: KPK Reveals Saudi Arabia Supplied Facilities for Additional Pilgrims
The Anti-Corruption Commission (KPK) is investigating allegations of corruption in the hajj quota distribution for 2023-2024. The KPK stated that Saudi Arabia did not arbitrarily provide additional hajj quotas; facilities for the extra pilgrims had been prepared by the Saudi government.
This was stated by Asep Guntur Rahayu, Deputy for Prosecution and Execution of the KPK, in a KPK podcast broadcast online on Monday, 9 March 2026. Asep noted that Saudi Arabia had guaranteed these facilities.
“When a country provides additional hajj quotas, it certainly must have already prepared the facilities. It is impossible for the Saudi Arabian government to provide additional quotas without considering whether there are accommodation locations and other matters,” Asep said.
The KPK team also conducted direct inspections to Saudi Arabia regarding these facilities, including facilities for additional pilgrims for the Arafah day (Wukuf), where space is limited.
“For regular quotas, they can be placed even in zone five. And zone five has already been prepared. Although the distance is indeed further compared to zone one, it is farther away,” he said.
“In fact, if more are added, especially to the special category, they would be cramped in zone 1. This is what we found. And zone 5 has been rented for this purpose,” he added.
Furthermore, Asep stated that the additional hajj quota was given by Saudi Arabia to the Indonesian government. The quota was not given to individuals.
“The hajj quota is given from the Saudi Arabian government to the Indonesian government. So this is G-to-G, not to a person, to a travel agency, but to the state,” he said.
Former Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas (YCQ) had previously explained the reason for dividing the additional 2024 hajj quota into 50 per cent regular and 50 per cent special quotas. Yaqut cited the safeguarding of pilgrim welfare as the basis for the distribution.
“The only consideration I made when determining the quota distribution was hifdzun nafs (safeguarding life). Protecting the safety of pilgrims due to limited capacity in Saudi Arabia,” said Yaqut after a pre-trial hearing at the South Jakarta District Court on Tuesday, 24 February.
“And furthermore, we must understand that hajj falls under Saudi Arabia’s jurisdiction. So it is not solely the authority of the Indonesian government. The jurisdiction is there. We are bound by regulations in Saudi Arabia, including quota distribution because there is a memorandum of understanding,” he continued.
For context, the hajj quota corruption case concerns the distribution of an additional 20,000 pilgrims for the 2024 hajj quota during Yaqut Cholil Qoumas’s tenure as Religious Affairs Minister. The additional quota was intended to reduce the waiting queue for regular Indonesian hajj pilgrims, which could reach 20 years or more.
Before the additional quota, Indonesia received a hajj quota of 221,000 pilgrims in 2024. After the increase, the total Indonesian hajj quota for 2024 became 241,000. The problem arose when the additional quota was distributed equally: 10,000 for regular hajj and 10,000 for special hajj.
However, the Hajj Law stipulates that the special hajj quota should only be 8 per cent of Indonesia’s total hajj quota. As a result, Indonesia utilised 213,320 quotas for regular pilgrims and 27,680 for special pilgrims in 2024.
The KPK stated that Yaqut’s policy resulted in 8,400 regular hajj pilgrims who had already been waiting for over 14 years and were supposed to depart after the additional quota in 2024 failing to do so.
Following its investigation, the KPK designated Yaqut and his former staff member Ishfah Abidal Aziz (IAA), also known as Gus Alex, as suspects. The KPK confirmed it has substantial evidence from the designation of these suspects. Currently, Yaqut has not been detained.