Prosecutors in Japan have asked for an arrest warrant for a senior politician, Muneo Suzuki.

The prosecutors allege Mr Suzuki accepted a $40,000 bribe from a timber company in return for its being treated leniently in an illegal logging case.

PM Junichiro Koizumi's popularity is plummeting

He has admitted receiving the money but denies it was a bribe.

Mr Suzuki gave up his membership of Japan's governing Liberal Democratic Party in March, as allegations of corruption surfaced against him, but he still holds a seat in parliament.

The politician who helped orchestrate the sacking of his old political enemy, Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka in January, is himself in trouble.

Legal steps

The Japanese media said prosecutors would seek permission from parliament for Mr Suzuki's arrest - a step necessary in Japanese law - with the politician's own house, the lower house, voting on the issue as early as Tuesday.

Muneo Suzuki is a backbench MP from the northern island of Hokkaido who was a prodigious fundraiser and a key player in the ruling party's richest and most powerful faction.

He has a string of other allegations against him, in addition to that concerning the Yamarin lumber company.

He is accused of having used his influence to maximum effect at the Foreign Ministry, allegedly ensuring overseas contracts went to his friends in the construction industry.

A dam project in Kenya and building work on Russian islands claimed by Japan have come in for particular scrutiny.

Mr Suzuki is also alleged to have had a say in the accreditation of diplomats, and on one occasion, to have kicked and hit a senior ministry official in a dispute over policy.

Dubbed a "department store of suspicions" by an opposition MP, Mr Suzuki came in for scrutiny by former Foreign Minister Tanaka who headed a crusade against corruption within her own bureaucracy.

Mr Suzuki mounted a campaign against her over a succession of diplomatic gaffes, and in February Prime Minister Koizumi was forced to sack his popular foreign minister.

Plummeting popularity

The string of scandals involving Japanese lawmakers this year has delayed the prime minister's reform agenda.

Mr Koizumi and his coalition partners have agreed to extend parliament's current session until 31 July in order to try and push some of the bills through.

Mr Koizumi's perceived inaction on reform, and on the endemic corruption in the ruling party which he promised to eradicate on coming to power, have severely damaged his popularity.

A survey by Jiji Press put support for Koizumi at 34% in June, down 3.6 points from May, and far below the 80-90% seen when he took office last year.