Yamarin, the Hokkaido timber firm at the center of a bribery probe, in 1998 paid Toshikatsu Matsuoka, a former parliamentary vice farm minister, 2 million yen the same day it allegedly paid a 5 million yen bribe to Muneo Suzuki, a former lawmaker now under arrest on bribery charges, sources said.

Matsuoka, a former agriculture ministry official who later became a Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, allegedly received the money on Aug. 4, 1998. An unnamed Matsuoka aide, however, claimed the money was a "political donation."

Two days later, Matsuoka allegedly talked with senior officials of the Forestry Agency and asked for leniency for Yamarin, which had carried out illegal logging activities.