Money Trail in the Haj Quota Case

THE Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) appears to be half-heartedly handling the haj quota corruption case that implicated former Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas. Instead of attempting to uncover the involvement of other figures whose roles are quite obvious, KPK is only focusing on peripheral players. 

On March 30, 2026, the anti-graft agency announced two new suspects: Ismail Adham, Operational Director of Makassar Toraja or Maktour, and Asrul Azis Taba, Chair of the Association of Indonesian Haj and Umrah Tours a.k.a. Kesthuri. Both, along with Yaqut and his special staffer, Ishfah Abidal Azis, alias Alex, have been accused of conspiring to manipulate the 2024 haj quota system, causing the state losses up to Rp622 billion.   

Albeit the new suspects, the investigation has been moving slowly, and can potentially be localized so as not to implicate other prominent figures. This is apparent in the fact that KPK has charged the four suspects under the article on causing state losses, not the bribery article. However, this magazine received information that Alex had sent US$1 million to Zainal Abidin, a special staffer to Nusron Wahid, Chair of the Special Committee for Inquiry into 2024 Haj Management. The money was said to have been used to ‘condition’ or influence the special committee formed by the House of Representatives.   

Some of the money is suspected to have come from Ismail Adham and Asrul Aziz Taba, and the money has since been returned in stages. This act of bribery actually can already be a strong impetus for KPK to probe the involvement of Senayan politicians for the period 2019-2024. 

KPK’s argument to use only the article on causing state losses to prioritize asset recovery sounds odd, as this article does not offer adequate grounds to pursue other perpetrators. The graft or extortion articles, meanwhile, can be used to trace the recipients, bribers, and the source of the money. After all, Ismail Adham and Asrul Azis reportedly are not top policymakers in their respective companies. Zainal Abidin was also an expert staff member only, not a DPR member. 

The investigators have already summoned Maktour Group owner, Fuad Hasan Masyhur, as a witness, although Fuad played a dominant role in lobbying for additional haj quota for 2024. KPK has also searched the Maktour office in Jakarta; however, they did not find anything since the evidence had been destroyed. KPK’s promise to charge them with obstructing justice was never realized either.

KPK must not hesitate to investigate the graft recipients, including House members. Actually, rumors of illicit haj fund flow to Senayan have actually been circulating when this case first emerged in KPK. The fact that Nusron Wahid’s expert staffer had asked for money was already enough for KPK to launch an investigation. 

Indications of ‘conditioning’ the Haj Special Committee are evident in the five recommendations read out in September 2024. With the available evidence, the Haj Committee should have come up with serious recommendations since the even distribution of the 2024 additional haj quota clearly violates the law. 

In reality, the Haj Committee’s five recommendations only consist of normative suggestions, such as urging the government to beef up the control system to prevent similar incidents in the future. There is no recommendation stating that distributing haj quota violates the regulations and can potentially result in corruption. 

As of now, it is hard to pin our hopes on KPK to complete the investigation into the haj quota bribery case. The pledge to unravel this case to improve haj management is mere lip service, just a momentary effort to quell public discontent.