Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) has stated that the Islamic ministry’s process of authorizing companies to send pilgrims to Hajj had made way for corruption.

In a letter to Islamic minister Dr Ahmed Zahir, ACC stated that it has decided to further investigate its case after it found that corruption might be involved in the ministry’s authorization process.

In the letter, ACC highlighted that two companies had been approved for evaluation even though they did not submit the required documents.

ACC stated that the evaluation committee also ignored the rules on giving points to the proposals and instead gave more points to the proposals the committee found subjectively better.

The Islamic ministry authorized six of the 18 interested companies to send pilgrims to Hajj. The companies authorized to send pilgrims this year are Hajj Corporation, Acro Hajj Group, Mina Hajj & Umrah, Al-Haramain Hajj and Umra, Zai Hajj Group, and Tazkiyah.