TOKYO (Kyodo) -- A former ruling party lawmaker received a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence, suspended for five years, for defrauding the government of about 3.5 million yen ($23,000) by claiming salary expenses for a secretary who did no work.

The Tokyo District Court said Megumi Hirose, a 58-year-old former member of the House of Councillors, was "selfish by unfairly trying to obtain public funds," with the presiding judge noting her thinking was "very shallow" given that she holds a lawyer's license.

The judge said that although her husband had pointed out the illegality of her actions, Hirose, who resigned as an upper house lawmaker in August, went ahead with the crime, assuming other parliamentary members were doing the same.

The court, however, determined that a suspended sentence was appropriate, as she admitted to the charge and returned the full amount to the state, the judge added. Hirose stared straight ahead at the witness stand as she listened to the verdict.

Hirose was first elected to the upper house in 2022 as a candidate of the Liberal Democratic Party. She left the LDP in July 2024 after Tokyo prosecutors searched her home and office.