Japanese bureaucrats, under criticism for dubious use of public funds, were on Wednesday stripped of another privilege — air miles.

The government said it would no longer let bureaucrats keep the air miles they accumulate on official trips, and would instead talk to airlines about using the miles for future official travel.

"If we can use mileage points to cover official trips, that will save our tax money," chief government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura told reporters.

"It's a shame to let such an opportunity go to waste."

Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, whose Liberal Democratic Party has been in power for all but 10 months since 1955, has faced intense criticism over a series of scandals involving bureaucrats.

The government admits that more than 500 government officials have received cash, coupons or alcohol from taxi drivers when taking rides home in Tokyo on taxpayers' expense.

On Monday, a senior official in the land ministry was arrested on suspicion of rigging the bidding for river improvement projects in northern Japan in return for wining, dining and job offers for retired bureaucrats.

AFP