TOKYO - Former House of Representatives lawmaker Muneo Suzuki arrived at the Tokyo High Public Prosecutors Office to be processed for imprisonment for bribery and falsification of political funds reports on Monday.

He lost his Diet seat after his conviction by the Supreme Court in September for bribery and three other criminal counts and stands to be jailed for around 17 months.

Suzuki, the 62-year-old leader of the small New Party Daichi, had his incarceration postponed in October due to surgery to treat esophageal cancer.

Pending a decision as to which facility he will serve his full sentence in, Suzuki will be placed at the Tokyo Detention House.

Suzuki's punishment comes following revelations that he received a total of 6 million yen ($72,384) in bribes from a construction firm in Abashiri, Hokkaido, while he was serving as chief of the Hokkaido Development Agency between 1997 and 1998 and an additional 5 million yen from a timber company in Obihiro, also in Hokkaido, in August 1998, during his role as deputy chief Cabinet secretary.

The former House of Representatives lawmaker is also being convicted for falsifying political funds reports and lying under oath, according to the judicial ruling.

Suzuki was elected to the Diet as a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) member in 1983, but left the party in 2002 prior to his arrest that year on bribery allegations.

While contesting his sentencing, he formed the New Party Daichi in August 2005 and a month later won in the lower house election under the proportional representation system.

In September this year, the Supreme Court rejected Suzuki's appeal against the lower court and the lower court's decision was subsequently upheld.

Speaking at a small gathering in Hokkaido over the weekend, Suzuki said with regard to his health and his imminent internment, "The schedule of imprisonment will be arranged after results of postoperative tests on the 25th of this month are available."

"A cancerous tumor smaller than 3 cm has been removed without trouble," he added, also saying that he plans to serve his expected 17-month incarceration as if "in ascetic practice," local media reports quoted Suzuki as saying.