Lawyer Claims Five Procedural Flaws in Yaqut's Suspect Status in Hajj Quota Case

Former Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil’s legal team claims that the process of designating him as a suspect by the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) contains several formal defects and could violate the principles of due process of law.

Gus Yaqut’s legal team coordinator, Mellisa Anggraini, said there are at least five formal defects that form the basis of the pretrial request filed by their side.

First, the designation as a suspect was made without a prior state loss audit. The KPK named Yaqut as a suspect on 8 January 2026, while the official report from the Audit Board of Indonesia (BPK) was only issued on 24 February 2026. “This shows that the suspect designation was made before there was a lawful basis for calculating state losses,” Mellisa said in a written statement on Sunday (8/3).

Second, she said the designation was carried out by the KPK leadership, not by investigators. Indeed, she said, referring to Law Number 19 of 2019 on the KPK, the KPK leadership is not an investigator or public prosecutor. “Thus, the action raises serious questions about the legality of the authority in the suspect designation process,” she said.

Third, she noted that to date Yaqut has not received an official letter of designation, only a notification letter. She said this practice is not in line with the Constitutional Court Decision No. 21/PUU-XII/2014 and Article 90(2) of Law No. 20 of 2025 on the KUHAP which regulates the procedure for lawful designation of a suspect.

Fourth, KPK has been inconsistent in the use of legal bases in the investigation process. For the issuance of the Investigation Order (Sprindik), KPK uses different legal bases, referring to both the old KUHAP and the new KUHAP, creating legal uncertainty,” Mellisa said.

Fifth, she said the basis for the suspect designation is said to be the “notula ekspose”. In fact, notula ekspose is not evidence as regulated in criminal procedure law and does not have binding force to be used as the basis for designating someone as a suspect.

“Owing to this, through this pretrial hearing, the defence team hopes the panel of judges can assess all legal facts presented in the trial objectively and independently. The principles of justice and legal certainty must be upheld so that the law enforcement process remains within the correct legal framework,” Mellisa said.

Yaqut previously filed a pretrial on Tuesday, 10 February 2026. The application was registered under case number: 19/Pid.Pra/2026/PN JKT.SEL. Yaqut wants to test the process of designating him as a suspect in the case of alleged corruption in the extra Hajj quota carried out by the KPK.

Yaqut’s legal team asks Judge Sulistyo Muhammad Dwi Putro to annul three Sprindak that were used as the basis for the KPK to prosecute him as a suspect in the case of alleged corruption in the extra Hajj quota. The three letters are: Sprin.Dik/61/DIK.00/01/08/2025 dated 8 August 2025; Sprin.Dik/61A.2025/DIK.00/01/11/2025 dated 21 November 2025; and Sprin.Dik/01/Dik.00/01/01/2026 dated 8 January 2026.