Ex-Diet Member Hirose to Be Indicted for Fraud; Allegedly Pocketed Govt Salary of Sham Secretary

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:21 JST, August 30, 2024

Tokyo prosecutors have decided to indict without detention Megumi Hirose, 58, a former member of the House of Councillors who resigned on Aug. 15, for fraud over the government-paid salary for a secretary.

The amount of the secretarial salary suspected to have been swindled from the central government comes to more than ¥3 million. No charges are expected to be filed against the public secretary and others who were involved in the case under Hirose’s alleged direction.

Tokyo prosecutors searched Hirose’s home and offices on July 30, on suspicion of fraud against the central government by providing one of her secretaries with a salary even though the person did not work. It is said that another of her secretaries lent his wife’s name to Hirose at her direction, and he gave almost of the resulting secretarial salary to Hirose.

The prosecutors decided that Hirose, who is also a lawyer, should be held criminally responsible for the fraud, even though she resigned from the Diet, emphasizing that she allegedly orchestrated the salary fraud and received most of the defrauded money.