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nggito Abimanyu resigned on Friday as the Religious Affairs Ministry'€™s director general for the haj and umrah (minor pilgrimage) after the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) stepped up its probe into his alleged role in the haj-management graft case.

Anggito is the second official to resign at the ministry '€” which has long been perceived as notoriously corrupt '€” over the scandal, following former religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali, who quit his post after being named a suspect in the case.

Anggito tendered his resignation letter on Friday morning to Coordinating People'€™s Welfare Minister Agung Laksono, who is now also serving as interim minister.

'€œThe letter said he tendered his resignation due to the possibility, from media reports, of his facing legal action. Although it is still unclear what kind of legal problems [he might face], he told me that he needed to seriously focus on any [potential] legal matters,'€ said Agung after a meeting with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday at Cipanas Palace, Cianjur, West Java, to discuss the situation at the ministry in the wake of the ongoing investigation.

According to Agung, Yudhoyono accepted Anggito'€™s resignation and reminded '€œall officials in the ministry to work better'€ from now on.

Religious Affairs Ministry inspector general M. Jasin, who is a former KPK commissioner, has said the irregularities being investigated by the KPK took place after Anggito '€” who has been questioned by the KPK in the case '€” assumed leadership of the directorate.

Last week, KPK investigators confiscated a number of documents, a laptop and a cell phone from Anggito'€™s office, a move that raised speculation that he would soon follow Suryadharma by being named a suspect in the case.

Suryadharma has been charged with abuse of power by allegedly flying dozens of people, reportedly his relatives, ministry colleagues and lawmakers at the House of Representatives, whose names were falsely registered as Indonesian Haj Organizing Committee (PPHI) representatives, to join him on a haj pilgrimage using state funds.

The Financial Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre (PPATK) has given the KPK its analysis of financial records concerning Suryadharma, several Religious Affairs Ministry officials and a number of lawmakers, who allegedly had a hand in the haj program irregularities.

The ministry is currently preparing a name to replace Anggito, a renowned economist who once also headed the fiscal policy unit at the Finance Ministry.

This is the second scandal to have forced Anggito to quit his post.

In February, Anggito resigned from his position as a lecturer at the Yogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University (UGM) following an accusation that he had plagiarized an article.

Agung said his office was currently trying to meet the KPK'€™s recommendations, issued in 2010, to improve the haj management.

At that time, the KPK identified 48 weaknesses in the haj management that left it open to corruption, including the channeling of interest from pilgrim haj installment deposits; the lack of transparency concerning the DAU or Public Trust Fund, which holds any excess interest not disbursed for pilgrimage services; and discrepancies between the number of seats booked for haj pilgrims and the capacity of the aircraft used. The KPK found that the ministry had allocated only 325 seats from the potential total of 400 seats for each flight.

'€œThere are still around 16 to 20 points we have to complete in order to ensure we avoid irregularities,'€ Agung said.