TOKYO (TR) – On July 30, the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office raided the office and residence of Upper House member Megumi Hirose on suspicion of fraud.
Prosecutors suspect that Hirose, 58, defrauded the central government of the salary paid for an aide registered to her, who did no work.
At around 11:30 a.m. that same day, Hirose arrived at her home in Bunkyo Ward. “I will explain in detail later,” she told reporters. She later submitted her resignation from the Liberal Democratic Party.
For Masahiko Motoki, an author and former editor of weekly tabloids Friday and Shukan Gendai, it is about time. Writing in Nikkan Gendai (Aug. 11), he compares Japan’s politicians to termites that need to be exterminated — before it is too late.
Hirose first became a hot topic when she toured Paris in July of last year as a part of the LDP’s Women’s Affairs Bureau, which is headed by Rui Matsukawa. The intention of the trip was to learn what France is doing to combat the declining birthrate and provide child-rearing support.
In a photo posted on social media, Matsukawa is shown with two others in front of the Eiffel Tower with their hands together in the shape of the structure. or her part, Hirose was criticized for posting a photo of a full-course French meal that she enjoyed.
Critics said the venture was more a sightseeing trip than a visit in an official capacity.
“The Red Mercedes Affair”
That was small potatoes compared to the “The Red Mercedes Affair,” as reported in Shukan Shincho (Mar. 7th). On October 30 last year, Hirose exited the Diet building and drove a red Mercedes to the ritzy Aoyama area, arriving at just after 7:30 pm.
There, she picked up a foreign man, who was clearly not her husband. Rather, it is Canadian saxophone player Andy Wolf. Afterwards, the two traveled in the Mercedes to a restaurant in Jingumae, Shibuya Ward. As they sat opposite each other, they touched each other’s hands while waiting for the food they had ordered.
After the meal, the two of them entered a love hotel in the Kabukicho red-light district. The next morning, Hirose went directly from the love hotel to the Budget Committee.
After the report, Hirose apologized, saying, “I deeply regret it. I will do my best to restore trust.” However, she did not resign from her position as a member of parliament.
Wife did no work
Later, Shincho fired another shot. In its March 28 issue, the magazine reported on alleged fraud as carried out by a secretary after she was elected for a seat in the Iwate electoral district in 2022.
That November, Hirose began employing her secondary secretary as her primary secretary. Shortly after that, the primary secretary’s wife took over as the secondary secretary.
Yet, according to the magazine, the wife did no work. This continued into 2023, with the amount of money paid in salary by Hirose reaching several million yen.
Hirose said that the claims made in the article were groundless. She wrote on her web site that the wife of the secretary carried out various administrative duties at her office in Morioka City, Iwate Prefecture and served as a driver.
However, Shincho printed screenshots of messages from chat app Line between the primary secretary and Hirose that contradicted this claim.
In addition to Hirose’s residence in Tokyo, reporters gathered in front of her office in Morioka on July 30. Cardboard boxes were piled at the entrance so that nobody could see inside.
“I have nothing to say right now,” one staff member said to the gathered throng.
“Termite legislators”
In 2002, politician Kiyomi Tsujimoto was found to have misappropriated the salary of a secretary. They were both arrested and convicted of fraud. After Tsujimoto resigned from th Diet, she was given a suspended prison term.
Aforementioned author Masahiko Motoki writes in Gendai that he would like to remind Hirose that she is a licensed attorney, meaning she must know the gravity of her crime.
Hirose remains a Diet member. But Motoki suspects she might need to follow in the footsteps of Tsujimoto and resign from that post also.
“Hirose is not the only lawmaker who conceals her sexual and financial desires with a gold badge,” writes Motoki. “There are also many unscrupulous people who think of politics as a means of making money. It is not only Prime Minister Fumio Kishida who is ruining this country. Unless the termite legislators who are dependent on the government’s funds are cleaned out, it will be impossible to regain trust in politics, which has fallen to the ground.”
