The two highest-ranking executives at a Tokyo university resigned Friday after their alleged involvement in bribery came to light following the arrest of a senior education ministry official, university officials said.

Masahiko Usui, the 77-year-old chairman of Tokyo Medical University's board of regents, and Mamoru Suzuki, the university's 69-year-old president, are suspected of bribing the bureaucrat in the form of assuring his son's enrollment in the university in exchange for a government subsidy for the institution, sources close to the matter have said.

Usui and Suzuki are suspected of involvement in padding the entrance examination results for the bureaucrat's son to assure his admission in February.

The Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office's special investigation squad arrested the senior education ministry official, Futoshi Sano, on Wednesday on suspicion of accepting a bribe from Tokyo Medical University.

Sano allegedly gave advice to the university on how to write the university's research plan in documents to get selected for the ministry's funding program, the sources said.

The medical university received a grant of 35 million yen ($316,000) after applying for the aid program for fiscal 2017 aimed at helping universities work on prominent research activities.

Out of 65 candidates, the university's research plan on early detection of cancers and lifestyle-related diseases was selected in November 2017 for the funding, along with those of 26 other universities.

(Masahiko Usui, left, and Mamoru Suzuki)