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View all search resultsFormer minister Yaqut arrested after court rejects pretrial motion
The antigraft body named Yaqut and his former special staffer Ishfah Abidal Aziz graft suspects on Jan. 8. They are accused of enriching themselves and other parties through mismanagement of an additional haj quota for the 2024 haj season.
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Former religious affairs minister and graft suspect Yaqut Cholil Qoumas (center) is escorted out of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) headquarters in Jakarta after an interrogation session on March 12, 2026. The antigraft body arrested the former minister one day after a court rejected his pretrial motion challenging his suspect status. (Antara/Sulthony Hasanuddin)
T
he Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has arrested former religious affairs minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas after a court rejected his pretrial motion in a corruption case pertaining to the 2024 haj quota.
On Thursday, KPK investigators summoned Yaqut for interrogation as a suspect in the corruption case, said antigraft body spokesperson Budi Prasetyo.
Yaqut arrived at the KPK headquarters in South Jakarta with his lawyer at around 1 p.m. He did not make any comments when questioned by reporters upon his arrival.
Yaqut exited the antigraft body’s office at around 6:45 p.m., wearing an orange vest usually designated for suspects arrested by the KPK and with his hands cuffed. He was immediately escorted to a prisoner transport vehicle to a detention center behind the commission’s headquarters.
Members of Banser, the civilian security unit under the Nahdlatul Ulama’s Ansor youth wing, staged a rally in front of the KPK headquarters on Thursday afternoon while Yaqut was being interrogated. They shouted chants upon seeing Yaqut being escorted out of the building.
At a press briefing on Thursday evening, KPK acting investigation director Asep Guntur Rahayu said investigators had only arrested Yaqut at that time because they did not want to rush things. “We wanted to complete the evidence first before arresting the suspect,” he said.
He also reaffirmed that the KPK’s investigation of the case had been conducted accordingly, as ruled by the judge handling the pretrial motion filed by the suspect.
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