KPK States Acceleration Fee for Special Hajj Pilgrims Used for Personal Interests of Former Religion Minister Yaqut

JAKARTA — Indonesia’s Anti-Corruption Commission (KPK) has revealed that fees from special hajj travel operators related to accelerated pilgrim departures under the T0 scheme were used for the personal interests of former Religion Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas.

“Some of the fee money was kept and used for the personal interests of YCQ,” stated KPK Deputy for Enforcement and Execution Asep Guntur Rahayu during a press conference at the Red and White Building in Jakarta on Thursday (12 March 2026).

Asep explained that in 2023, Indonesia received a quota of 8,000 pilgrims. Of these 8,000 pilgrims, the quota allocation should have complied with Law Number 8 of 2019, which allocated 8 percent or approximately 640 pilgrims for special hajj.

“However, in implementing the quota allocation, it was not done according to the national registration order, but based on recommendations from special hajj operators or travel agencies,” said Asep.

This contradicted Article 64 paragraph 2 of Law Number 8 of 2019, which states that “special hajj quota allocation shall be conducted based on the order of national registration”.

“In filling the additional special hajj quota for 2023, the fee requested was approximately USD 4,000-5,000 or between Rp 67.5 million to Rp 84.4 million per pilgrim,” he said.

When information circulated that the House of Representatives would establish a special committee for hajj around July 2024, IAA (special staff to Yaqut) Gus Alex ordered a sub-director to return the collected fees to the association or hajj operators.

The request for fees, fee commitments, or other charges from hajj operators in the 2023 and 2024 hajj operations was carried out on orders from IAA.

“The money from the collected fees is also suspected of being used to influence the special hajj committee, which was known to YCQ,” said Asep.