REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Former religious affairs minister Suryadharma Ali filed a pretrial suit at the South Jakarta district court on Monday challenging the Corruption Eradication Commission's decision to name him in a 2012-13 inappropriate hajj fund management case.

"This morning at 08.00 a.m., we came to the South Jakarta district court to file a pretrial suit," said Suryadharma Ali's lawyer Humprhey R Djemat.

According to Djemat, a team of lawyers filed the suit citing insufficient preliminary evidence to suggest his client's role as a suspect.

The team of lawyers has also found abnormalities in the state loss estimates said to be caused by the alleged graft case involving Suryadharma Ali, he added.

"In January 2014, Bambang Widjojanto (then deputy chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission) had noted that the amount of state losses will be investigated first. State losses have not been evaluated," he pointed out.

Furthermore, then chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission Abraham Samad had stated that only 30 percent of dossiers on the Suryadhama Ali was complete.

Djemat believes the naming of his client in the alleged graft case is politically motivated.

The alleged graft case involves the misappropriation of budget funds, including Hajj pilgrimage cost, accommodation, and transportation fees in Saudi Arabia. The case is believed to have inflicted losses worth Rp1 trillion.

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