Yaqut arrives at KPK, claims gratitude for celebrating Eid at home

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Suspect in the alleged Hajj quota corruption case and former Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas, upon arriving at the KPK’s Merah Putih Building in Jakarta on Tuesday, claimed to be grateful for being able to celebrate Eid at home, rather than in state detention or a remand centre. “Alhamdulillah, I was able to pay respects to my mother, to my mum,” said Yaqut at the KPK’s Merah Putih Building in Jakarta. When asked by journalists whether he was able to celebrate Eid at home due to a family request, Yaqut confirmed it. “It was our request,” he said. Yaqut then walked towards the stairs to return to being a detainee at the KPK remand centre. Earlier, on 21 March 2026, the wife of the defendant in the alleged extortion corruption case and former Deputy Minister of Manpower Immanuel Ebenezer Gerungan, namely Silvia Rinita Harefa, spoke to journalists after visiting her husband. Silvia told the journalists waiting for her that there was information circulating among the detainees about Yaqut not being seen in the state detention or remand centre. “Earlier, I didn’t see Gus Yaqut. The info is that he left on Thursday (19/3) night,” said Silvia on Saturday (21/3) afternoon. She continued that she received information that Yaqut was also not seen during the Eid al-Fitr prayer on 21 March 2026. “People inside say he wasn’t there. He wasn’t there,” she said. When further confirmed whether only Ebenezer knew this information, she stated that all detainees knew. “Everyone knows about it. They were just wondering. They said there was an examination, but it’s impossible to have an examination on the eve of Takbiran night like that. Even until today (Saturday, 21/3), there hasn’t been any,” she said. On Saturday (21/3) night, the KPK confirmed to Silvia that Yaqut had been on house arrest since the night of 19 March 2026. Yaqut Cholil Qoumas became subject to house arrest after his family requested it from the KPK on 17 March 2026. On 23 March 2026, the KPK announced that it was processing the transfer of Yaqut’s detention from house arrest back to remand centre detention. It is known that Yaqut was designated as one of the suspects in the alleged corruption case related to Indonesia’s Hajj quota for 2023-2024 by the KPK on 9 January 2026. On 12 March 2026, the KPK detained Yaqut at the State Detention Centre Branch of the KPK’s Merah Putih Building after his pre-trial was rejected on 11 March 2026. The case is said by the Financial and Development Supervisory Agency (BPK) of Indonesia to have caused state losses of up to Rp622 billion.