Yaqut Placed Under House Arrest, Analyst: KPK Would Be Better Under Prosecutor's Office and Police
Legal expert from Brawijaya University, Aan Eko Widiarto, believes that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) should become an institution under the Attorney General’s Office (Kejagung) or the National Police following the transfer of former Minister of Religious Affairs Yaqut Cholil Qoumas’s detention status from prison to house arrest.
“The KPK should become a sub-organisation under the Prosecutor’s Office or the Police so that it is supervised by those two law enforcement institutions,” said Aan when contacted by Kompas.com on Monday (23/3/2026).
Aan noted that the KPK was established because the state needed an institution to eradicate corruption with a more stringent law enforcement approach.
According to Aan, house arrest is a mechanism more commonly used in general criminal cases. For him, this house arrest status is far from professional standards for law enforcement, even in general criminal matters.
Meanwhile, alleged corruption cases are in the realm of special criminal law, which is above general criminal law.
Aan pointed out that the prosecutor’s office and the police themselves rarely apply house arrest status, even for political detainees.
“If this is a special criminal offence, and the law enforcement is very lax, exceeding general criminal enforcement, then it is very ironic,” said Aan.
“Not only by claiming that there is an article in the Criminal Procedure Code. The KPK should act professionally,” Aan emphasised.
Kompas.com has contacted KPK Chairman Setyo Budiyanto and Deputy Chairman Fitroh Rohcahyanto to delve into the reasons why the KPK leadership granted the change in detention to Yaqut.
However, until this news was written, the two KPK leaders, including KPK Spokesperson Budi Prasetyo, have not given a response.
“Investigators have changed the type of detention for the suspect Mr. YCQ from detention in the KPK Detention Centre to house arrest, since Thursday night (19/3/2026),” said KPK Spokesperson Budi Prasetyo in his statement on Saturday (21/3/2026).
Budi said that this change in detention was carried out based on a request from the family submitted on Tuesday (17/3/2026).