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ormer religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali claims that he gave places in the government'€™s haj program not only to his family members but also to prominent politicians, government officials and even journalists.

In his defense statement at the Jakarta Corruption Court on Monday, he said that high profile figures including former vice president Boediono and former president Megawati Soekarnoputri also received the benefit.

Suryadharma said that he had channeled haj quotas intended for registered pilgrims, to help Megawati and her late husband Taufiq Kiemas and Boediono make their haj to the holy land in 2012.

'€œThe parties include the Vice Presidential Security Detail [Paspampres] receiving more than 100 allocated places, as well as another 50 for Megawati and the late Taufiq,'€ Suryadharma said, adding that the ministry also gave 70 seats to former defense minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro and 10 to People'€™s Consultative Assembly (MPR) former speaker Amien Rais.

He said other beneficiaries of the 2,000 or so left over haj slots included prominent TV talk show host Karni Ilyas with two places as well as six seats for KPK officials and dozens for representatives from various media outlets.

The former United Development Party (PPP) chairman also admitted that he had alloted six seats for his family members.

Suryadharma said that he gave away up excess haj slots to various parties after offering the seats to prospective pilgrims but not all of them '€œwere ready to perform haj at that time'€.

The 2012 to 2013 haj program of around 194,000 registered pilgrims saw around 2,000 unused seats due to death, illness and pregnancy. The former minister said that he had offered the unused seats to other prospective registered pilgrims for that period but said they had failed to pay the haj fees by the given deadlines.

However, Suryadharma did not offer the vacant seats to pilgrims who were already on the waiting list of around 2 million people, instead he gave the places to those who hadn'€™t planned for the pilgrimage.

Suryadharma maintained that his decision to allocate the empty slots to non-pilgrims was allowed by an internal regulation at the ministry, and thus did not violate any law, adding that the Ministry gave unused places to the party without giving further funding for their trips to Saudi Arabia.

In addition to his defense statements, Suryadharma said he would ask former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to testify on his behalf at the next trial session to help the panel of judges at the court understand how seriously he had handled the haj program.

'€œI hope that pak SBY wants to come to testify to the court,'€ Suryadharma said.

KPK deputy chairman Indriyanto Seno Adji said on Monday that the antigraft body had yet to decide whether to summon Megawati, Boediono, Purnomo and Karni for clarification over Suryadharma'€™s testimony after the court handed down a guilty verdict on him.

'€œSuch a decision needs to be made at the court. We will follow up the case after the court rules a legal and binding verdict,'€ Indriyanto told reporters on Monday.

KPK prosecutor handling Suryadharma'€™s case Abdul Basir challenged Suryadharma to prove his allegation that six KPK officials had received unused haj places from the Religious Affairs Ministry.

'€œIf it is true, then he could simply reveal the names of the six officials in the next hearing,'€ said Basir.

Last week, KPK prosecutors at the Jakarta Corruption Court indicted Suryadharma for corruption accusing him of abusing his power during his time time as the minister of religious affairs to enrich himself and other individuals by misusing haj pilgrimage funds, which were obtained from the payments of haj pilgrims and state funds.

Suryadharma is accused of misusing Rp 27.28 billlion (US$1.95 million) from the haj fund and receiving Saudi 17.96 million riyals in bribes from a Saudi businessman who wanted to win a contract for haj accommodation.
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