Suspect named in haj fund scam

Suspect named in haj fund scam

Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

A senior official at the Ministry of Religious Affairs was
declared a suspect on Wednesday in a corruption case involving Rp
684 billion (US$72 million) in haj pilgrimage funds.

The suspect has been identified as Taufiq Kamil, the
ministry's director-general of Islamic guidance and haj
management. He was being grilled for hours on Wednesday, said
head of the inter-departmental corruption eradication team
Hendarman Supandji.

However, Hendarman said his team had not yet decided whether
to detain Taufiq, who is currently a non-active official.

"We will wait for more results to come out of the
investigation to determine whether we should detain him or not,"
he said.

To prevent the suspect from fleeing the country, Taufiq has
already been given a travel ban, added Hendarman who is also the
deputy attorney general for special crimes.

Taufiq was largely responsible for the management of the tens
of millions of dollars in haj funds, which should have been saved
in just one account instead of several accounts unrelated to
pilgrimage affairs.

On Tuesday, the National Police decided to freeze the
ministry's accounts totaling Rp 684 billion after an audit by the
Development Finance Controller (BPKP) revealed a series of
irregularities.

National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis said on
Wednesday that the irregularities in the fund management were
revealed after investigators found 22 separate bank accounts with
the haj money, and each of those was being used for items not
accounted for properly.

Some of the money was used in at least five items in the
ministry's budget, most of which were unrelated to the haj
pilgrimage, he said.

The budget items were being used for such things as salary
bonuses, housing compensation and management funds for ministry
officials, in addition to an interest-bearing haj trust fund.

None of these were connected to programs aimed at benefiting
haj pilgrims, but merely being used for the benefit and
enrichment of the ministry's officials.

According to Law No. 17/1999, unused money collected from
pilgrims must be kept in one bank account and the funds must be
managed for the pilgrims' benefit.

Starting in 2003, the auditors found that the funds were split
into separate accounts and managed without public transparency,
creating suspicions of possible corruption.

"We have also questioned several ministry officials as
witnesses in this case, especially people who are in charge of
managing these funds," Zainuri said.

When asked whether the Minister of Religious Affairs Maftuh
Basyuni -- who was appointed in October 2004 -- was involved in
corruption, Zainuri said the minister may have not known about
the fund management procedures, but declined to elaborate
further.

Zainuri did say however, that the police were going to summon
Maftuh's predecessor, Said Agil Hussein Al-Munawar, for
questioning as a witness. "The point is that all relevant
officials, including former ministers, will be summoned."

Indonesia, the largest Muslim nation in the world, sends
around 200,000 pilgrims each year to Saudi Arabia. Each pilgrim
is required to pay the ministry up to Rp 24 million, over 17
percent more than Malaysian pilgrims are charged by their
government.

The government controls well over Rp 5 trillion each year from
the pilgrimage.

Unlike many other Muslim countries where individuals can
arrange their own trips, Indonesian pilgrims are strictly
required to go through the government bureaucracy as the haj
management has been centralized at the religious affairs ministry
for decades -- yet another legacy of the Soeharto/New Order
regime.