Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Takehiko Endo, 68, has decided to resign over illegal dealings at a farmers' group he headed, Kyodo news agency reported yesterday.

His decision, which came less than a week after he joined the Cabinet when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe revamped it, is a blow to the embattled leader.

Another high-ranking bureaucrat, Vice-Foreign Minister Yukiko Sakamoto, is also expected to resign today after acknowledging her support group faked funding reports in 2004-2005, national broadcaster NHK reported.

Mr Abe's first Cabinet was plagued by scandals and gaffes.

The 52-year-old conservative leader named a new line-up last Monday to try and revive public support after his ruling coalition suffered a disastrous defeat in the July 29 election that gave the opposition a majority in Parliament's Upper House.

Mr Endo admitted on Saturday that a farmers' aid group he headed in his home prefecture of Yamagata had received 1.15 million yen (S$15,200) in state subsidies by exaggerating weather damage to the 1999 grape harvest.

He acknowledged that he had failed to disclose this to Mr Abe before his appointment.

Kyodo quoted an unidentified source in the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) as saying that Mr Endo had decided to quit.

He will be the fifth person to leave the Cabinet since Mr Abe assumed office last September. His tenure will be the shortest in memory of any Japanese minister.

Mr Abe's first appointee to the farm portfolio, Mr Toshikatsu Matsuoka, committed suicide in late May after weeks of being under suspicion of dubious accounting of political funds.

The second, Mr Norihiko Akagi, was fired last month over reports of discrepancies in his political funding records.

Defence Minister Fumio Kyuma quit in July for apparently justifying the US atomic bombings of Japan during World War II.

Reform Minister Genichiro Sata resigned in December last year over accounting irregularities in his political funds.

Mr Endo apologised on Saturday but said he did not intend to resign. The farmers' group has not returned the money to state coffers.

Opposition leaders took to the Sunday morning talk shows, threatening a censure motion against Mr Endo.

Mr Endo is expected to hold a news conference today to announce his resignation.

REUTERS, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE