A ruling Liberal Democratic Party chapter headed by the new farm minister received donations from several companies after a local government expelled them from a list of approved firms due to bid-rigging, sources close to the matter said Wednesday.

The LDP branch in Kagoshima Prefecture headed by Hiroshi Moriyama, who was appointed agriculture minister last week, accepted ¥6.9 million ($57,660) over three years from some of the 31 companies that the prefectural government barred in November 2010 from bidding for public works contracts.

The donations were made while the 31 companies sought mediation by a local summary court over the prefectural government's imposition of ¥3.6 billion in fines in 2013 and after its agreement to halve the penalties in 2014.

"We believed there were no problems with receiving donations from the companies," Moriyama said Wednesday. "We will consider whether to return the donations in the future."

The 31 companies based in Kagoshima and neighboring Kumamoto Prefecture were excluded from bidding after the Japan Fair Trade Commission ordered them to stop bid-rigging.

The LDP chapter's political funds reports show that it received ¥2.8 million from nine of the 31 companies in 2011, and ¥1.68 million from six and ¥2.5 million from nine of them in 2013.

The branch was found in 2010 to have received ¥5.5 million from 11 of the 31 companies during the 2007 to 2008 period when they rigged bids as alleged by the antimonopoly watchdog.