Ex-farm minister Takamori Yoshikawa is suspected of taking cash from a former representative of a major egg production company in Hiroshima Prefecture in return for favors for the egg farming industry, sources close to the matter said Tuesday.
Besides Yoshikawa, the 87-year-old former representative of Akita Foods Co., whose name has not yet been revealed, may have handed cash to other lawmakers with vested interests in the agriculture industry, the sources said.
Tokyo prosecutors appear to be investigating the alleged bribing of Yoshikawa, 70, a ruling Liberal Democratic Party member of the House of Representatives, by questioning officials at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, as well as Akita Foods, according to the sources.