OSAKA -- A former Defense Facilities Administration Agency official under arrest for fraud was served a fresh warrant Monday on suspicion he accepted 2 million yen in bribes from an oil sales company to help the firm start business with the Defense Agency, prosecution officials said.

It was the third warrant issued on Tatsuro Kitamura, 43, who was dismissed from the agency on Wednesday, according to officials of the Osaka District Public Prosecutor's Office.

He was initially arrested in January and served a second warrant last month, both over alleged fraud involving contracts with the Defense Agency.

According to the officials, Kitamura accepted the bribes from the company, Kyodo Koyu, based in Osaka Prefecture, in exchange for his help in asking officials in the Defense Agency's Central Procurement Office to treat the firm as a "registered company" authorized to supply it with oil.

Hiroshi Shigematsu, 73, who effectively runs the oil company, was also arrested the same day, together with Shunzo Jo, 61, a real estate company executive and an acquaintance of Kitamura.

Prosecutors also raided the Defense Agency in Tokyo earlier in the day in connection with the case, and questioned agency officials believed to have been approached by Kitamura, the prosecutors said.

Companies that do business with the Defense Agency must meet its standards for size and business performance.

Kyodo Koyu did not meet such requirements, was effectively dormant and had no record of having conducted substantial business in oil product sales.

Nevertheless, it was selected as one of the "registered" companies earlier this year. Prosecution investigators plan to examine how the company won the status.

Vice Defense Minister Ken Sato said it was "very regrettable" that the agency was raided by prosecutors, and promised to cooperate with the investigation. He did not make it clear whether the agency will conduct an internal probe into the case.

The agency's Central Procurement Office was at the center of a 1998 bill-padding and breach of trust case involving former top officials of the office as well as affiliates of NEC Corp.

The procurement office is scheduled to be abolished in the agency's reorganization in 2001.

Kitamura was initially arrested on suspicion of swindling a total of 100 million yen from an Osaka food company and a real estate firm based in Kyoto Prefecture. He is alleged to have promised to get the Defense Agency to award contracts to the firms in exchange for money.

Kitamura is also suspected of trying to swindle money from an Osaka man using a similar fraudulent contract story involving the agency.