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KPK lets Anggito off hook, for now

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) grilled former Religious Affairs Ministry director general for haj and umrah (minor haj) Anggito Abimanyu on Monday, to confirm its findings from a recent trip to Saudi Arabia

Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, January 27, 2015

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KPK lets Anggito off hook, for now

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he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) grilled former Religious Affairs Ministry director general for haj and umrah (minor haj) Anggito Abimanyu on Monday, to confirm its findings from a recent trip to Saudi Arabia.

Last week, KPK investigators traveled to Saudi Arabia where they questioned a number of Indonesian and Saudi Arabian officials dealing with the haj program.

KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha said the investigators also collected evidence that could be used to build a strong case against former religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali, the only suspect in the case.

The KPK has questioned Anggito on a number of occasions, but he remains a witness in the case.

KPK commissioner Adnan Pandu Praja said late last year that it was a matter of time before Anggito was named a suspect in the case, given his role as an official in charge of the haj program.

Priharsa said Anggito was again questioned in the case as a witness for Suryadharma.

'€œToday'€™s questioning is related to his status as a witness,'€ Priharsa said at KPK headquarters on Monday.

The KPK declared Suryadharma a graft suspect in May last year after KPK investigators alleged he had abused his power as minister for misusing haj quotas intended for prospective pilgrims and rigging the procurement of goods and services without going through the proper mechanism.

Two weeks later, Anggito resigned from his post at the ministry.

Speaking after his questioning, Anggito said KPK investigators had questioned him on the issue of the haj quota.

'€œToday'€™s questioning was more or less the same as the last session. It did not concern the budget for the haj program, but was about the haj quota, especially how much of the quota was left [unused]. There was nothing new in the questioning,'€ Anggito said.

Every year, at least 1 percent of 150,000 places in the haj quota is not taken due to prospective pilgrims falling ill, dying or other reasons.

Suryadharma repeatedly said that he had the prerogative as minister to decide how to allocate the unused seats.

KPK investigators allege that Suryadharma allocated some of the vacant seats to his family members and colleagues at the ministry and other friends from the United Development Party (PPP).

The ministry requires each pilgrim to pay a deposit of Rp 25 million (US$ 2,000) to be added to the waiting list for the pilgrimage.

The money is then kept and managed by the ministry.

In a move to find more suspects in the case, late last year the KPK expanded its investigation into spending irregularities in the budget for the 2010-2011 haj period, a move aimed at implicating members of the House of Representatives overseeing the program.

Earlier, KPK chairman Abraham Samad said the new investigation focused on looking at the roles of lawmakers from Commission VIII on religion, which supervises the ministry.

He added that some PPP lawmakers were suspected of rigging the procurement of transportation, catering and housing for hundreds of thousands of haj pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.

'€œSome lawmakers in Commission VIII have '€˜other'€™ businesses [related to the haj program],'€ Abraham said.

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