The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) finally put former religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali behind bars after questioning him for eight straight hours on Friday night.

In May 2014, the KPK named the United Development Party (PPP) chairman a corruption suspect in a case surrounding the 2012-2013 haj pilgrimage program. He will soon face trial in the case, which caused state losses of nearly Rp 2 trillion (US$150 million).

He will serve a maximum 90 days in detention at the non-air conditioned KPK detention center inside the Guntur military prison facility in South Jakarta.

Suryadharma '€” who has resisted arrest over the past two months using different reasons from an '€œunacceptable summons letter'€ to a pretrial petition '€” said he had no choice but to face detention after the South Jakarta District Court '€œtook away justice'€ from him by rejecting his pretrial plea on Wednesday, which demanded that the KPK lift his graft suspect status in the haj case.

'€œI'€™ve sought justice through legal means but to no avail, so where should I turn to find it? This detention is a manifestation of KPK'€™s revenge because I tried to challenge it through the pretrial hearing. This is injustice,'€ he said.

KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha said the antigraft body investigators locked up Suryadharma to expedite the completion of his dossiers in the case to prepare his upcoming trial at the Jakarta Corruption Court.

'€œHe is detained for the first 20 days, but it is extendable up to 90 days before the trial begins,'€ he said.

The KPK had planned to detain Suryadharma in the first week of February, but he refused to attend questioning by saying that the KPK summons letter contained a typographical error. In the following week, he again defied a second summons by saying that he was too ill to go to the KPK for questioning.

In March, he claimed that the KPK should not summon him until the South Jakarta District Court ruled on his pretrial motion.

Suryadharma said that the KPK was wrongly prosecuting him in the case because it could not provide a comprehensive yet formal audit detailing how '€œI could embezzle such a huge amount of money from the haj program, which ran well during my tenure as religious affairs minister.'€

He made the claim despite being told earlier by the KPK that the state lost Rp 3 billion from the Indonesian Haj Organizing Committee (PPIH) recruitment program and Rp 1.8 trillion in the procurement of catering, transportation and housing for pilgrims in Saudi Arabia.

The haj fund has increased annually as the number of Muslims going on the haj keeps increasing. Each pilgrim is required to pay Rp 25 million to be placed on the haj waiting list. There are about 2 million names on the list. The ministry is currently managing about Rp 70 trillion in pilgrims'€™ funds in its bank account.

The KPK said that it was still calculating other state losses caused by Suryadharma'€™s other alleged offenses in the case as it further found that he had also abused his authority by misusing haj quotas intended for would-be pilgrims.

One percent of the annual 190,000 haj quotas was left unused by pilgrims due to death or illness and Suryadharma argued that it was within his authority as minister to determine how to allocate the vacant quota.

In 2013, the KPK said, Suryadharma flew 36 people, including relatives, ministry colleagues and lawmakers, to go on the haj by using the quota intended for pilgrims and using money deposited in the haj fund.

Suryadharma has been charged with malfeasance, enriching himself and others, and corporate enrichment under articles 2 and 3 of the 2001 Corruption Law, which carries a maximum 20 years behind bars.

The antigraft body has slapped travel bans on six House lawmakers who enjoyed the free haj trip, including his wife Wardatul Asriah, who is a PPP politician.

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