Kalla swears he was not involved in haj fund scandal

Kalla swears he was not involved in haj fund scandal

Eva C. Komandjaja and Muninggar Sri Saraswati, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Vice President Jusuf Kalla dismissed on Wednesday the allegation
that he was involved in the multibillion rupiah haj funds
scandal, saying that he had acted on state instructions.

"I could cover the cost (of my own trip) with my own funds
when it came to the haj pilgrimage. It's the minister of
religious affairs who appointed ministers (to lead Indonesia's
haj delegation) with an approval from the president," he told
reporters after opening a seminar on Wednesday.

Kalla said that he was appointed to lead the Indonesia haj
delegation in 2002 when he was the coordinating minister for
people's welfare, along with the minister of social affairs.

"As such, we don't know about the sources of the funds. It was
our haj duty and not travel for leisure," he said.

The lawyer of a former minister, Ayuk F. Shahab, said Tuesday
that seven top government officials performed a haj pilgrimage
which was covered by the misused haj funds.

Police are questioning former religious minister Said Agil
Hussein Al-Munawar in the scandal. Al-Munawar who had been named
a suspect and was questioned for nine hours on Tuesday came to
the police office at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Police were still
questioning him late in the evening on Wednesday.

Offering his sympathy to Al-Munawar, Kalla said that the
former minister was not guilty, because the practice of
appointing state officials to lead the haj pilgrimage had been
done for years.

Every year, top government officials are appointed to lead the
haj delegation and the travel is considered a duty.

Minister of Social Affairs Bachtiar Chamsyah also denied that
he had used haj funds to perform the haj pilgrimage in 2002
citing similar reasons.

"I performed the haj pilgrimage in 2002 because I was
appointed by religious affairs minister Al-Munawar as haj
delegation leader," Bachtiar said as quoted by Antara.

He said he was not sure where his haj pilgrimage funds came
from. He added that he only knew that his pilgrimage was paid by
the government.

Hundreds of thousands of Indonesians make a haj pilgrimage
every year. Last year, the number topped 200,000 with each
pilgrim paying about Rp 25 million.

The alleged misuse was found after the Development Finance
Comptroller (BPKP) audited the ministry's accounts and discovered
a series of irregularities on the management of haj funds.

The unused haj money was supposed to be stored in a single
account and used for the benefit of haj pilgrims but the ministry
had several accounts and used it for ministry purposes allegedly
unrelated to the haj pilgrimage.

The funds were allegedly used to finance government officials
trips to Saudi Arabia for the haj.

Anticorruption director at the National Police headquarters
Brig. Gen. Indarto told The Jakarta Post that the investigators
decided not to detain Al-Munawar on Wednesday since the inquiry
was focused on his policies during his term as minister.

"The investigators told me that they could not detain him
right now, but we will consider detaining him tomorrow
(Thursday)," Indarto said.

Another suspect, former director general of Islamic guidance
and haj management Taufiq Kamil, has been in detention since last
Friday.

Indarto said that the investigators had not yet questioned Al-
Munawar about the haj fund misuse saying that it would be
conducted on Thursday because they did not have much time.

Although the religion ministry is under fire following the
news of this scandal, the ministry has not been deterred from
raise the haj fee for next year due to the rising price of
aviation fuel.

Minister of Religious Affairs Maftuh Basyuni said that he and
Garuda Indonesia, as the official carrier for Indonesian haj
pilgrims, would discuss the matter later in the week.