Prosecutors served a fresh arrest warrant Thursday on lawmaker Muneo Suzuki on a second bribery charge.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutor's Office believes Suzuki, 54, received 6 million yen from Shimada Kensetsu, a construction firm based in Abashiri, Hokkaido, on four occasions between September 1997 and July 1998 while he headed the former Hokkaido Development Agency.

Prosecutors also served a new warrant the same day on Suzuki's policy secretary, Jun Tada, 50, as an accomplice in the case.

Suzuki allegedly took the money after receiving requests from Shimada Kensetsu President Mitsuo Shimada, 56, to help the firm win several port construction projects in Hokkaido, sources said.

Suzuki accepted 2 million yen shortly after he assumed the agency helm and later accepted 1 million yen to 2 million yen on three other occasions, the sources said.

In most cases, Tada accepted the cash from the company at Suzuki's office in the Diet members' building in Tokyo and reported the payments to his boss, the sources said, adding that on such occasions, Shimada handed over a list of public works projects his company wanted to receive.

At the firm's request, Suzuki asked officials to favor Shimada Kensetsu for the projects, the sources said.

As a result, the firm drastically increased the number of orders it received after 1998, they added.

The three-year statute of limitations has expired for charging Shimada Kensetsu's president and the other company officials with paying bribes.

Suzuki and Tada have been charged with taking a 5 million yen bribe from the logging company Yamarin in August 1998. In return, Suzuki allegedly used his influence to secure better treatment for the Obihiro-based firm after a seven-month administrative punishment imposed on it for illegal logging in national forests.

Suzuki, a House of Representatives member from Hokkaido, was forced to leave the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in March after drawing fire over a series of scandals involving him.

He has refused to resign his Diet seat and has denied any wrongdoing regarding his first bribery charge.