KPK Uncovers Hajj Queue-Jumping Scheme: Pilgrims Solicited for Rp84 Million

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has uncovered a corruption scheme within the Ministry of Religion involving the acceleration of hajj pilgrim departures. Ministry officials allegedly solicited substantial sums of money from pilgrims to enable them to “jump” the queue that should have been strictly regulated by law.

“In the implementation of quota allocation, the process was not conducted in accordance with the national serial number, but rather based on proposals from travel agencies or pilgrimage organisers,” said Asep Guntur Rahayu, Deputy for Enforcement and Execution at the KPK, at KPK headquarters in Jakarta on Thursday, 12 March.

Asep explained that this scheme occurred during the distribution of hajj quotas in 2023, when the Indonesian government received an additional 8,000 quotas from the Saudi Arabian government.

Although regulations governing quota allocation have established standard procedures, in practice these procedures were circumvented for personal gain.

To depart earlier, pilgrims were allegedly asked to pay substantial facilitation fees. “The fee requested was approximately USD4,000 to USD5,000 (Rp65.7 million to Rp84.4 million) per pilgrim,” said Asep.

In this case, the KPK has named former Religion Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas and former Special Staff to the Religion Minister Isfan Abidal Aziz, also known as Gus Alex, as suspects.

The core issue in this corruption case stems from quota distribution that did not conform to applicable regulations. Indonesia was actually granted 20,000 additional quotas to expedite the hajj queue. The government should have distributed these with 92 per cent allocated to regular hajj and 8 per cent to special categories. However, certain parties divided them equally at 50 per cent each.

Investigators have questioned numerous Ministry of Religion officials and travel service providers to trace the flow of funds. The KPK has emphasised that it will soon complete the case file to enable this matter to proceed to trial.