The Tokyo District Court on Thursday sentenced Kiyomi Tsujimoto, former policy chief of the Social Democratic Party, to a suspended two-year prison term for defrauding the state out of 18.7 million yen.
According to the ruling, Tsujimoto, 43, registered two women as secretaries, even though the women never actually worked for her. She received the money from the state as their salaries.
Masako Goto, who worked as policy secretary to former SDP leader Takako Doi, was sentenced to a suspended 18-month term for her part in the scam.