KPK Transfers Former Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut to House Arrest After 7 Days in Detention
Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, former Minister of Religious Affairs and suspect in the alleged corruption case regarding the 2023-2024 Hajj quota, has been temporarily transferred to house arrest by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).
“Investigators have changed the type of detention for suspect YCQ from detention at the KPK Detention Centre to house arrest starting from Thursday (19/3/2026) night,” stated KPK Spokesperson Budi Prasetyo in his statement on Saturday (21/3/2026).
Yaqut was imprisoned for just over a week. He was officially detained by the KPK since Thursday (12/3/2026) night.
Previously reported, Yaqut has been charged under Article 2 paragraph (1) and/or Article 3 of Law No. 31 of 1999 on the Eradication of Criminal Acts of Corruption.
The KPK revealed that the state losses due to this alleged Hajj quota corruption case amount to Rp 622 billion.
Yaqut was designated as a suspect in the alleged Hajj quota corruption case on Friday (9/1/2026). At that time, the KPK did not immediately detain him.
KPK Spokesperson Budi Prasetyo said that whether a suspect is detained or not depends on the investigators’ needs.
In this case, Yaqut carried out several conditioning efforts to regulate the 2023-2024 Hajj quota, from changing regulations to technical implementation.
Yaqut first relaxed the special Hajj quota rules by instructing the Director General of Hajj and Umrah Organisers (PHU), Hilman Latief.
The new rules were designed to divide the additional Hajj quota in a 50 percent regular Hajj and 50 percent special Hajj proportion.
This 50:50 proportion violates Article 64 paragraph 2 of Law No. 8 of 2019 on the Organisation of Hajj and Umrah Worship, which regulates the division of additional Hajj quotas with a 92 percent proportion for regular Hajj and 8 percent for special Hajj.
Yaqut conveyed this 50:50 division to Hilman after meeting with the Board of Trustees of the Hajj and Umrah Travel Associations Friendship Forum (Forum SATHU), Fuad Hasan Masyur, in November 2023.
Hilman was also instructed to prepare a draft MoU with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia regarding the proposal for additional Hajj quotas with a split scheme (50:50).