KPK Confirms Meetings Between Hilman Latief and Yaqut Regarding Haj Quota

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has confirmed a number of meetings between former Director General of the Hajj and Umrah Organising Directorate Hilman Latief and former Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, and other officials, to discuss the additional Haj quota for 2023-2024. The confirmation came while Hilman Latief was examined as a witness on Wednesday, 20 May. ‘For the examination of witness HL [Hilman Latief] it was explored whether an association or PIHK (Penyelenggara Ibadah Haji Khusus) sought to manage the additional Haj quota,’ said KPK spokesman Budi Prasetyo in a written statement, Thursday, 21 May. ‘This included confirmation of meetings with ministers and other officials relating to the additional quota.’ Meanwhile, KPK Chairman Setyo Budiyanto said that the examination of Hilman was to strengthen the evidence in the case that implicates Yaqut and three other suspects. He added that investigators still have ample time to gather evidence to be brought and tested in court, so that the file can be declared complete (P21) by prosecutors. ‘For Haj there are quite a lot of witnesses to be questioned, so I am confident that with so many witnesses the investigators will strive to collect to strengthen the evidence,’ he said in Banten, on Thursday, 21 May. Hilman Latief, for his part, claimed there was no discussion of the alleged money receipt during the KPK examination as a witness on Wednesday (20 May) night. He finished his examination around 7:15 pm WIB. ‘There was no discussion about that,’ Hilman told reporters at the KPK office in Jakarta, on Wednesday (20 May) night. He said he had only explained to investigators about the distribution of Haj special and regular quotas, with each accounting for 50 percent. According to KPK, such a division contravenes Law Number 8 of 2019 regarding the Management of Hajj and Umrah, which states that the Haj special quota should be 8 percent of Indonesia’s Haj quota, with the majority allocated to the regular quota. ‘I have already conveyed that to the investigators,’ Hilman said briefly. To date, KPK has named four suspects in the case believed to have resulted in state losses of Rp622 billion. They are former Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas and his Special Assistant Ishfah Abidal Aziz alias Gus Alex, who have already been detained. The other two suspects not yet detained are Ismail Adham, Operational Director of PT Makassar Toraja (Maktour); and Asrul Azis Taba, Commissioner of PT Raudah Eksati Utama and also Chairman of the Asosiasi Kesthuri. In handling the Haj quota case, KPK applies Article 2(1) and/or Article 3 of the Corruption Eradication Act (UU Tipikor) in conjunction with Article 55(1) to-1 KUHP, or as referred to in Article 603 or Article 604 of Law Number 1 of 2023 on the KUHP in conjunction with Article 20(c) of the KUHP.