Jakarta. The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Monday detained two prominent executives in the hajj and umrah travel industry as suspects in a corruption investigation involving the alleged misuse of additional hajj quotas allocated by Saudi Arabia, a case that has also implicated former Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas.

The two suspects are Asrul Azis Taba, commissioner of hajj travel company Raudah Eksati Utama and chairman of the Indonesian Hajj and Umrah Organizers Association (Kesthuri), and Ismail Adham, operations director of Maktour, one of Indonesia’s best-known premium hajj travel operators.

Both men were formally named suspects on March 30.

They emerged from KPK headquarters in Jakarta late Monday wearing orange detention vests and handcuffs before being escorted to detention vehicles. Asrul was seen walking with a cane, while Ismail appeared emotional and was seen wiping away tears. Neither made any statement to reporters.

The KPK has previously said it possesses evidence that travel agencies obtained illegal profits by exploiting additional pilgrimage quotas allocated through the Religious Affairs Ministry.

According to investigators, at least eight travel agencies affiliated with Kesthuri generated a combined Rp 40.8 billion ($2.2 million) in illicit gains from the 2024 hajj season.

The controversy centers on an additional quota of 20,000 pilgrims granted to Indonesia by Saudi Arabia in 2024. Then-minister Yaqut allocated the quota equally between the government-managed regular hajj program and the privately managed special hajj program.

The KPK argues that the arrangement violated Indonesia’s Hajj Administration Law, which stipulates that 92% of available quota should be allocated to regular pilgrims and only 8% to special hajj operators.

Investigators suspect the quota reallocation was driven by financial interests and estimate total state losses at Rp 622 billion ($34.3 million).

Yaqut is accused of receiving fees from hajj travel companies in exchange for granting a larger share of the additional quota to private operators, allegations that he has denied.

The case has attracted widespread attention because of the enormous demand for hajj pilgrimages in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation.

Indonesia receives an annual hajj quota of approximately 210,000 pilgrims from Saudi Arabia. With tens of millions of prospective pilgrims on waiting lists, the waiting period can exceed 15 years and, in some provinces, stretch beyond two decades.

As a result, any additional quota granted by Saudi Arabia is highly valuable and fiercely contested by travel operators, whose clients are often willing to pay substantially more for faster access to the pilgrimage.