Indonesia's national antigraft body says they have no evidence to charge Agriculture Minister Suswono as a suspect in the beef import quota bribery case.

"Suswono is still a witness," said Johan Budi, spokesman for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) on Friday, as quoted by Antaranews.com. "There is no evidence on the agriculture minister's involvement [in the case]."

Johan said that the commission had made no plans to question Suswono again, after the minister was questioned by the KPK for the second time on Thursday.

Suswono, from the Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), had been implicated in a case centering on an attempt to rig the awarding of beef import contracts by his ministry.

He allegedly met with graft suspect Luthfi Hasan Ishaaq, the former PKS president, in Medan last month, along with the president director of a beef import company Indoguna Utama, Maria Elizabeth Liman, and Elda Devianne Adiningrat, the former chairwoman of the Indonesian Seeds Association.

Luthfi is alleged to have demanded a kickback from Indoguna for using his influence over Suswono to ensure that the company was awarded a lucrative government contract to import several thousand tons of beef this year.

He has been charged by the KPK along with two Indoguna executives, Arya Abdi Effendi and Juard Effendi, as well as Luthfi's assistant, Ahmad Fathanah.

Elda and Elizabeth were questioned by the KPK on Thursday, along with Luthfi, Ahmad, Arya, Juard, as investigators tried to determine the scale of the alleged big-rigging. Neither Suswono, Elizabeth nor Elda have been charged, although the KPK have issued travel bans for the two women.