Said wants other ex-ministers summoned over haj graft

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

In an apparent move to shift the blame, former religious affairs minister Said Agil Hussein Al-Munawar, who has been named a suspect in a haj fund scandal, demanded that his two predecessors also be questioned over the case.

Through his lawyer Ayuk Fadlun Sahab, Said said the graft investigation should not focus on him alone but also two other former religious affairs ministers, Tarmidzi Taher and Tolchah Hasan, in order to ensure a comprehensive probe.

Ayuk was quoted by the detikcom news portal as saying that the misuse of haj funds started long before Said became the religious affairs minister under the Megawati Soekarnoputri administration.

In a related development, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) suspended Said as a member of its central board after he was declared a suspect in the graft case.

"As he (Said) has been declared a suspect, Pak Said will no longer be permitted remain at his post in the NU," Saeful Bahri Ansori, a deputy NU secretary-general, said quoting NU chairman Hasyim Muzadi.

Apart from Said, the interdepartmental antigraft team also named Director General for Islamic Guidance and Haj Management Taufiq Kamil as a suspect for his alleged role in the misuse of Rp 684 billion (US$72 million) collected from pilgrims.

Taufiq was questioned throughout Friday. As of 9 p.m., the questioning was still underway. It was rumored that he would be detained soon.

Under the relevant legislation, haj pilgrimage funds must be kept in one account and used for the benefit of pilgrims during their stay in Saudi Arabia.

But the investigation showed that the funds had been deposited in a number of bank accounts, some of which had no connection with the annual pilgrimage.

"We have found that the suspects abused their powers in managing the funds, such as withdrawing money from the accounts for their own enrichment," said the head of the interdepartmental antigraft team, Hendarman Supandji.

He said that the suspects were also involved in illegal markups in connection with religious affairs ministry programs using the haj funds.

"We have also found that the money was lent to a number of borrowers but the loans were never repaid," Hendarman said.

Based on the preliminary investigation, the National Police decided to freeze the bank accounts concerned.

However, Hendarman could not specify the exact amount of the state losses that may have been inflicted as the Development Finance Controller (BPKP) was still auditing the accounts.

However, he said that the state could have lost more than Rp 700 billion.

Hendarman said there were also indications that the haj fee of up to Rp 25 million per pilgrim exceeded the real cost of the pilgrimage, adding that the additional funds generated in this way had been deposited in a number of obscure accounts.

According to Hendarman, Said Agil will be questioned on Tuesday but the decision on whether or not to detain him would depend on the results of the questioning.

"More suspects will be named soon as the case involved many officials at the ministry as well as people outside the government," Hendarman said.