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ormer religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali provided free accommodation for United Development Party (PPP) politicians who joined him on a haj pilgrimage in 2012, a witness stated on Monday.

Testifying at the Jakarta Corruption Court, the former director general for haj and umrah (minor pilgrimage) at the Religious Affairs Ministry, Anggito Abimanyu, confirmed that Suryadharma, then also PPP chairman, had accommodated fellow party members by registering them as Indonesian haj committee members.

Anggito, who resigned from the ministry after the KPK opened a probe against Suryadharma last year, said that a majority of the members of the former PPP chairman'€™s haj entourage in 2012 came from the Islamic-based political party.

The PPP members were not only awarded slots for the pilgrimage, as Suryadharma previously confessed, but they did not pay for accommodation like other pilgrims.

In addition to PPP politicians, Suryadharma included family members and other colleagues as well as members from House of Representatives Commission VIII overseeing religious affairs.

'€œSome were from parties, including the PPP. The majority of members [of the entourage] came from the PPP. I have data to back up my statements. It is a fact that members of the haj crew were related to him [Suryadharma],'€ Anggito told the court'€™s panel of judges on Monday.

Anggito gave up his job at the ministry after the KPK hinted in 2014 that it was just a matter of time before KPK investigators named him a suspect in the case.

'€œIt was true [that the order to include Suryadharma'€™s associates came from Suryadharma himself]. The decision was made based on instructions from [Suryadharma] and later we were informed of what had been decided. The haj group was filled with members according to instructions from the ministry,'€ Anggito added.

Anggito further said Commission VIII urged him to include people it recommended to become haj committee members in 2013. He said that he delivered the House'€™s request to Suryadharma and the former minister gave Anggito a green light to satisfy the House'€™s demands.

Earlier on Friday, Suryadharma'€™s former adjutant from his time as cooperatives and small and medium enterprises minister, Karto Kahmid, said that his former boss had offered him the opportunity to undertake the haj for free in 2013.

'€œHe asked me '€˜do you want to do the haj'€™? I said '€˜if it is possible for me to [join the entourage] then I will go'€™,'€ Karto said, adding that Suryadharma'€™s staff member Ermalen later told him by phone to take his passport to the Religious Affairs Ministry to arrange the trip.

Karto went to Saudi Arabia with a haj group comprising Suryadharma'€™s family members such as his wife, children and in-laws. He also received a Rp 16 million (US$1,173) stipend from the ministry.

At least 1 percent of the annual 190,000 haj quota was left unused because of the death or illness of pilgrims and Suryadharma argued that it was within his authority as minister to determine how to allocate the vacant places.

On Monday, Suryadharma admitted that the State Palace, at that time under the rule of former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the Vice Presidential Office, at that time led by National Police chief Boediono, and members of Yudhoyono'€™s Cabinet had asked the Religious Affairs Ministry to give them the unused haj quota.

Suryadharma said there was nothing wrong with those institutions receiving the leftover haj quota because they went to Saudi Arabia using their own money, not money from the ministry or haj funds.

The KPK has indicted Suryadharma on corruption charges, accusing him of abusing his authority as religious affairs minister to enrich himself and other individuals by misusing haj pilgrimage funds, which were obtained from the payments of haj pilgrims and from state funds.

Suryadharma is alleged to have misused Rp 27.28 billion from the haj fund and accepted 17.96 million reals from a Saudi businessman who wanted to win contracts for haj accommodation.