Yaqut's Legal Team Claims Suspect Designation Fails to Meet Two Evidence Standard
The legal team representing former Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas have stated that the Corruption Eradication Commission’s (KPK) designation of their client as a suspect does not meet the minimum requirement of two pieces of evidence. One key point highlighted is the absence of a state financial loss calculation at the time the suspect status was established.
This argument is based on Constitutional Court Decision No. 25/PUU-XIV/2016. In that ruling, Articles 2(1) and 3 of the Anti-Corruption Law were affirmed as material offences, meaning that the element of state financial loss must be based on the results of actual investigative audits pro justitia, not merely potential loss.
This view was reinforced by expert testimony from a state administrative law expert presented by the KPK (respondent), Professor Immanuel Sudjatmoko.
“This was further emphasised by the Expert in State Administrative Law presented by the Respondent, Professor DR Immanuel Sudjatmoko, S.H., M.S., who stated that the element of state financial loss as the basis for suspect designation must be actual (actual loss) and definite in amount at the time of designation, not merely potential, and the calculation of actual loss value must absolutely be possessed by law enforcement officers before designating someone as a suspect,” the legal team explained in their written conclusion filed with the South Jakarta District Court on Monday, 9 March.
Yaqut’s legal representatives explained their conclusion that the suspect designation did not meet the two-evidence standard, based on testimony from an expert from the State Audit Board (BPK) presented by the KPK during the hearing, namely Najmatuzzahra.
Based on Najmatuzzahra’s testimony, the calculation results of state financial loss in the hajj quota case involving Yaqut were only provided to the KPK on 23 February 2026. Meanwhile, Yaqut’s designation as a suspect was made on 8 January 2026.
“In this case, the Expert in State Financial Loss Calculation presented by the Respondent, DR. Najmatuzzahra, also confirmed that the Final Investigation Results Report was only issued on 20 February 2026, only submitted to the Respondent on 23 February 2026, and only formally handed over on 24 February 2026,” Yaqut’s lawyer explained.
According to Yaqut’s team, the insufficiency of evidence in designating their client as a suspect is also evident from the KPK’s attempt to characterise the Religious Affairs Minister’s Decision (KMA) No. 130 of 2024 as an element of ‘unlawful’ or ‘abuse of authority’.
Yaqut’s legal team explained that the KMA in question was drafted as a follow-up to an agreement between the Indonesian Government and Saudi Arabia regarding the arrangement of additional hajj quotas. Moreover, the KMA remained in force, continued to be implemented, was never revoked, never annulled, and was never declared invalid by any authorised official or institution.
“This situation is actually confirmed by the Expert presented by the Respondent, Professor DR. Erdianto Effendi, S.H., M.HUM., who stated that regarding policies related to agreements between countries, the territorial principle applies, and if transnational legal acts occur under the laws of two countries, then that legal act is subject to the laws of both countries or one of the relevant countries’ laws,” Yaqut’s legal team stated.
Additionally, in their conclusion, Yaqut’s legal representatives also explained that hajj quotas cannot be considered state finances. This aligns with the testimony of a state finance expert presented during the hearing.
“This is reinforced by Expert in State Finance DR. Dian Puji Simatupang, who stated that hajj quotas are not an instrument of state finance, not goods that can be capitalised, and not something that creates state financial rights,” Yaqut’s legal team stated.
“The expert emphasised that changes or loss of hajj quotas (which are under the sole authority of the Saudi Arabian Government) do not result in state financial loss, because the nature of quotas is not a monetary instrument that can be capitalised,” they added.
The South Jakarta District Court is scheduled to deliver its pre-trial ruling on Yaqut Cholil Qoumas’s motion on Wednesday, 11 March.