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KPK urged to look into haj fund scandal

Jakarta Post - December 30, 2008

Irawaty Wardany, Jakarta – Indonesia Corruption Watch (ICW) has called on the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) to make investigating the haj fund embezzlement scandal at the Religious Affairs Ministry its top priority.

"We ask the KPK to seriously investigate the case as it will encourage reform within the management responsible for the fund. This money has been embezzlement repeatedly in the past because of the non-transparent nature of the fund," ICW Coordinator for Public Service Monitoring Division Ade Irawan told The Jakarta Post here Monday.

ICW alleges the fund, called the Ummah Trust Fund (DAU), has been used for the interests of several individuals including Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni and some members of the House of Representatives. "We handed over some data on the issue to the KPK on Dec. 4," he said.

The data included two receipts showing US$2,800 worth of travel allowance to two lawmakers from the House's Commission VIII overseeing religious and social affairs and a total of Rp 1.2 billion (US$108,108) worth of incentives and transportation allowances to 15 members of the House's working committee deliberating the haj pilgrimage expenses.

Ade said ICW had already reported the discrepancies involving Religious Affairs Minister Maftuh Basyuni to the KPK.

"We found at least three payments to the minister. First, the functional allowance payment of Rp 10 million in March and April 2005, then the Idul Fitri holiday allowance of Rp 25 million on Nov. 11, 2004 and finally US$5,000 worth of travel allowance to Saudi Arabia on May 6, 2005," he said.

Maftuh is not the first religious affairs minister to be implicated in a corruption case. In 2006, the Central Jakarta District Court sentenced former minister Said Agil Hussain Al-Munawar to five years in jail and Taufiq Kamil, the ministry's former director general for Islamic guidance and haj affairs during Megawati Soekarnoputri's administration, to four years jail.

The KPK has said it is committed to following up the ICW report on the haj fund embezzlement. "It is one of many cases involving the interests of many people. We cannot just sit still and keep quite about it," KPK Deputy Chairman M. Jasin told the Post.