A grand jury on Friday accused one of Hawaii’s highest ranking elected officials of bribery, a major development in a yearslong political scandal.

The official, Lt. Gov. Sylvia Luke, was indicted on charges of criminal conspiracy to commit bribery, bribery and falsifying candidate committee reports as part of an investigation into an alleged $35,000 bribe paid her in 2022, when she was a state lawmaker.

Ms. Luke, a Democrat, was one of five individuals indicted on Friday. The others were Ryan Yamane, a former state representative; Tobi Solidum, a businessman and lobbyist; Ford Fuchigami, an official with Hawaii’s Transportation Department; and Leo Asunción, a former official with Hawaii’s public utilities commission.

David Louie, a former state attorney general Ms. Luke hired as a lawyer this year, according to local news reports, could not immediately be reached for comment. It was unclear on Friday whether the other four people charged were represented by lawyers.

Before any charges were announced, Ms. Luke had taken a leave of absence. She was replaced by an acting lieutenant governor, and abandoned her bid for re-election.

In a statement posted on social media several months ago, Ms. Luke said that she had “never granted special favors to a contributor,” adding that she had “prized integrity and honesty above all” throughout her career.

“It’s unfortunate,” said State Representative Diamond Garcia, a Republican. “It goes to show that the system that’s been in control of the state for so many years is following through with the perception that the public has had for so many years.”

Anne Lopez, Hawaii’s attorney general, opened an investigation into the alleged bribe — an offshoot of a federal investigation — in January.

Court filings released on Friday allege that in 2022, Mr. Solidum, a businessman, sought government funding for the Covid-19 test sites he was operating and promised Ms. Luke — then a state representative running for lieutenant governor — at least $35,000.

At the time, Mr. Solidum was working as a lobbyist and consultant to the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii, which had a contract with the state to provide Covid-19 community testing sites.

Court documents allege that Mr. Solidum sought state funding to sustain the testing sites, and met Ms. Luke in January 2022 at a Morton’s Steakhouse to discuss the matter.

At the meeting, Mr. Solidum handed Ms. Luke two $5,000 checks — one from him, and one from an associate. Both were made out to Friends of Sylvia Luke, her campaign committee. The pair discussed the prospect of funding Covid-19 testing, according to court documents.

“By next week, we’ll have 35 — so it will be halfway to our 70,” Mr. Solidum said at the meeting, referring to a promise of an eventual $70,000 donation to Ms. Luke, court documents allege.

Ms. Luke responded with “Oh wow,” and “That’s terrific,” the documents say. They also discussed union support for Ms. Luke’s campaign, according to the documents.

Before the meeting, Mr. Solidum spoke about his plans with a former state representative and noted that Ms. Luke had announced her campaign for lieutenant governor. “All I gotta do is give her more money now,” he said, according to court filings.

Ms. Luke, a longtime politician in Hawaii who served for 10 years as chair of the state’s House Finance Committee, previously acknowledged that she had accepted the two, $5,000 checks, but denied accepting a $35,000 donation. A check in that quantity would exceed the legal limit for campaign contributions or gifts.

Amid the attorney general’s investigation, several labor unions in Hawaii had released statements in support of the lieutenant governor.

“If you know Sylvia’s lines of power from being House Finance chair, to eventually lieutenant governor, to seemingly becoming the next governor, it’s weird that she made this type of mistake,” said Camron Hurt, state director of Common Cause Hawaii, a government watchdog group.

The indictment of Ms. Luke and the four others charged on Friday came out of a prior federal bribery investigation.

Ty Cullen, a former state legislator in Hawaii, was arrested by federal officials in 2021 on bribery charges. He began working with the F.B.I. to share information and record meetings — including the one between Ms. Luke and Mr. Solidum in 2022, the news outlet Honolulu Civil Beat has reported.

Court records related to Mr. Cullen’s sentencing previously described the interaction and identified the recipient of the $35,000 contribution as an “influential” state lawmaker, but did not name any individuals, the Honolulu Civil Beat has reported.

Jack Truesdale contributed reporting.