Judge's Reasoning for Rejecting Yaqut's Pretrial Hearing in Hajj Quota Corruption Case
A single judge at Jakarta’s South District Court rejected a pretrial hearing filed by former Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas regarding his suspect status in an alleged hajj quota corruption case. The judge stated that Yaqut’s designation as a suspect met the minimum requirements for valid evidence.
“In consideration, the respondent designated the petitioner as a suspect after gathering evidence of a criminal offence based on two types of evidence, namely evidence T-4 through T-117 and supported by evidence T-135 and T-136. Therefore, the designation of the petitioner as a suspect has met the legal requirements,” stated single judge Sulistyo Muhamad Dwi Putro at Jakarta’s South District Court on Wednesday (11 March 2026).
The judge stated that Yaqut’s designation as a suspect was in accordance with Article 1 number 31 of Law Number 20 of 2025. The judge said that pretrial hearings only assess the formal aspects of the petition.
“In consideration, the Constitutional Court Decision Number 21 of 2014 affirms that designation as a suspect must be based on a minimum of two valid pieces of evidence. Pretrial examination only assesses formal aspects, namely whether there is at least two valid pieces of evidence and does not enter into the substantive matters of the case,” the judge stated.
The judge dismissed several pieces of evidence presented by Yaqut as not being relevant. One of these was a collection of news articles regarding the case, as they were merely informational in nature.
“In consideration, evidence P-6a through P-7i, P-22a, and P-22b, namely a collection of media news articles, are not relevant to the case in question as they are merely informational reports, therefore such evidence has legal grounds to be dismissed,” the judge stated.
“In consideration, evidence P-18, P-19, P-20, P-21, namely decisions from other district courts concerning pretrial decisions, however such decisions have not yet become jurisprudence and have not become a legal principle by Indonesia’s Supreme Court, therefore they are dismissed,” the judge added.
Regarding the hajj quota case, it concerns the distribution of an additional 20,000 pilgrims for the 2024 hajj quota during Yaqut Cholil Qoumas’s tenure as Minister of Religious Affairs. The additional quota was intended to reduce the queue or waiting period for Indonesian regular hajj pilgrims, which could reach 20 years or more.
Before the additional quota, Indonesia received a hajj quota of 221,000 pilgrims in 2024. Following the increase, Indonesia’s total hajj quota for 2024 became 241,000. The problem began when the additional quota was divided equally, namely 10,000 for regular hajj and 10,000 for special hajj.
However, the Hajj Law stipulates that the special hajj quota is only 8 per cent of Indonesia’s total hajj quota. Ultimately, Indonesia utilised a quota of 213,320 for regular hajj pilgrims and 27,680 for special hajj pilgrims in 2024.
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) stated that Yaqut’s era policy caused 8,400 regular hajj pilgrims who had already queued for more than 14 years and should have departed following the additional quota in 2024 to fail to depart.
Following its investigation, the KPK designated Yaqut and his former special staff, Ishfah Abidal Aziz (IAA) alias Gus Alex, as suspects. The KPK affirmed that it possessed a series of evidence from such designations. Currently, Yaqut has not been detained.