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 resi…READ FULL ARTICLE
