The Supreme Court has turned down an appeal by former Construction Minister Kishiro Nakamura against an 18-month prison term for bribery, a decision that will remove him from his seat in the House of Representatives.
Nakamura, a one-time prominent member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, will become the third member of the Diet in postwar history to lose a parliamentary seat after having a prison term that is not suspended finalized against him, according to the Diet secretariat.
Nakamura has been convicted of taking 10 million yen in bribes from an executive of major general contractor Kajima Corp. in 1992.