Suffering from Acute GERD and Asthma, Reason Yaqut Allowed House Arrest
The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has announced the results of a health examination for Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, suspect in the alleged Hajj quota corruption case and former Minister of Religious Affairs, revealing that he suffers from acute GERD or acid reflux disease, which was one of the considerations for approving the transfer of detention from state detention centre to house arrest.
“We inform that one of the results from the health assessment is that the individual suffers from acute GERD, and endoscopy and colonoscopy have been performed. I’m not too familiar with the medical terms, perhaps colleagues can check,” said Deputy for Enforcement and Execution of the KPK, Asep Guntur Rahayu, at the KPK’s Merah Putih Building in Jakarta on Tuesday.
In addition, Asep announced that Yaqut suffers from asthma.
“So, of course, this becomes one of the requirements, besides other necessities in this case, including the strategy for handling the case so that it can proceed smoothly,” he said.
Previously, on 9 August 2025, the KPK began investigating the alleged corruption case related to Indonesia’s Hajj quota for 2023-2024.
On 11 August 2025, the KPK announced an initial calculation of state losses in the case exceeding Rp1 trillion, and prevented three individuals from travelling abroad for the next six months.
Those prevented were former Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, Ishfah Abidal Aziz alias Gus Alex as Yaqut’s special staff, and Fuad Hasan Masyhur as the owner of the Maktour Hajj organising bureau.
On 9 January 2026, the KPK announced that two of the three prevented individuals became suspects in the alleged Hajj quota corruption case, namely Yaqut and Gus Alex.
However, Yaqut filed a pre-trial request against the suspect determination at the South Jakarta District Court on 10 February 2026, registered under case number 19/Pid.Pra/2026/PN JKT.SEL.
On 19 February 2026, the KPK announced an extension of the travel ban only for Yaqut and Gus Alex, while Fuad’s was not extended.
On 27 February 2026, the KPK announced that it had received an audit from the Financial Audit Board (BPK) of the Republic of Indonesia regarding state financial losses due to the Hajj quota case. Then, on 4 March 2026, the KPK announced that the state financial losses due to the case amounted to Rp622 billion.