Lawyer: State losses in haj quota case not yet determined by BPK
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The legal counsel for former Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas stated that the state loss in the alleged corruption case over the additional haj quota for the organisation of the Hajj for the years 2023-2024 has not been determined by the Audit Board of Indonesia (BPK).
The losses to the state are demonstrated through a Statement of Investigative Audit regarding state financial losses, based on the Supreme Court Circular Letter (SEMA) Number 2 of 2024, which states that the authority to determine state losses constitutionally rests solely with the Audit Board of the Republic of Indonesia (BPK),” said Yaqut’s legal counsel, Melissa Anggraini.
Melissa, while reading the replication to the answer of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) at the South Jakarta District Court, on Wednesday, said that in a corruption case, the losses to the state are a crucial element that must be proven in a real and definite manner before a person is named a suspect.
“There is not a single piece of evidence as of 8 January 2026 showing calculations of state financial losses, including the extent of the loss, its origins, or the consequences of that loss,” she said.
She said, the losses to the state must be proven through an investigative audit conducted by a competent body, namely the BPK.
“Because Articles 2 and 3 of the Corruption Eradication Law have been interpreted as material offences by Constitutional Court Decision MK 25 of 2016, the element of state losses must be real,” she said.
Yaqut’s counsel also stressed that there has been no clear state loss audit report to date, including no date stated in the audit results.
“In other words, a statement of results of examinations based on examinations by the competent financial auditing state institution has never existed,” she said.
Therefore, they argue that the designation of Yaqut as a suspect does not meet the requirement of sufficient evidence as stipulated in the Criminal Procedure Law (KUHAP).
“Thus, at the time of the suspect designation, the relevant evidence concerning the state element did not exist,” she said.
That pretrial hearing tests the legality of the suspect designation of Yaqut Cholil Qoumas by the KPK.
Earlier, the KPK stated that state losses in the case of alleged corruption related to the addition of haj quotas for the 2023-2024 haj pilgrimage amounted to Rp622 billion.
In its response, the KPK stated that the designation of Gus Yaqut as a suspect in the haj quota case was in accordance with legal procedure because it had met the minimum requirement of two valid pieces of evidence. Moreover, more than 40 individuals have been questioned in accordance with the Minutes of Request for Information in the name of Yaqut Cholil Qoumas.
Subsequently, the KPK Legal Team added that Gus Yaqut’s designation as a suspect had gone through a series of data collection, information gathering, testimonies, and leads, so that the sufficiency of evidence through two pieces of evidence had been met.