Jakarta – Indonesian prosecutors said Wednesday that former president B.J. Habibie is not currently a suspect in a 3.8 million dollar fraud case allegedly involving one of his ministers.

They questioned Habibie on Monday and Tuesday about the alleged embezzlement of 40 billion rupiah (3.8 million dollars) in funds intended for the poor while he was president in 1999.

"So far we deem that the two rounds of questioning are sufficient and we do not see the need for further questioning," said spokesman for the attorney general's office Barman Zahir. "Up to now, we also see no grounds to change the status of Mr. Habibie from a witness to a defendant," Zahir said.

Habibie, who has lived in Germany since he was replaced by Abdurrahman Wahid in October 1999, on Tuesday flew back there after the questioning was completed.

Prosecutors earlier questioned House Speaker Akbar Tanjung several times as a witness in the same case before declaring him a suspect in January. Tanjung, who also heads the second largest party Golkar, held the ministerial post of state secretary under Habibie in 1999 at the time of the alleged fraud, involving funds from the national logistics agency Bulog.

Tanjung has denied any wrongdoing, saying he channelled the money to an Islamic charity to deliver food to poor villages in Java. The attorney general's office says there is no evidence any food was ever delivered. There are suspicions the funds were used to bankroll Golkar's campaign in the 1999 general election.

Prosecutors have also declared as suspects the head of Bulog at the time, Rahardi Ramelan, and a leader of a charity responsible for distributing the food aid.

Golkar could in theory be dissolved if found to have violated campaign spending limits. But other political parties have soft-pedalled on calls for a parliamentary inquiry into the scandal, saying the legal investigation must first take its course.