Former Construction Minister Kishiro Nakamura was turned over Thursday to the Tokyo Detention House in line with the Supreme Court's dismissal of his final appeal against a bribery conviction.
The top court on Jan. 29 rejected Nakamura's objection to its Jan. 17 ruling, in which it dismissed his final appeal of an 18-month prison term and 10 million yen fine for bribery. The decision finalized Nakamura's sentence and stripped him of his Diet seat.
The criminal case against Nakamura, 53, began when he was arrested in 1994.
Nakamura had been out on bail. He will soon be moved from the detention house to a prison, sources said. His sentence is due to be completed in June next year.
Nakamura is the third lawmaker since World War II to lose his Diet seat because of a criminal conviction.
In filing his objection with the Supreme Court, Nakamura repeated the claims he made in lower courts that the funds he received from executives of Kajima Corp. constituted a political donation, not a bribe.