Former House of Representatives member Kiyomi Tsujimoto pleaded guilty Thursday to defrauding the state out of nearly 19 million yen in government-paid salaries for her policy secretaries.

In the opening session of her trial at the Tokyo District Court, the former Social Democratic Party policy chief admitted that her office misappropriated most of the 18.8 million yen salary for two public secretaries who never actually worked for her, between November 1996 and December 1998.

Masako Goto, 66, a former policy secretary to Takako Doi, pleaded guilty to the same charge. Prosecutors charge that Goto proposed the illicit scheme and introduced the "secretaries" to Tsujimoto when she was first elected to the Diet in 1996.

Tsujimoto, 43, was once considered a popular corruption-buster in Diet debates. Her indictment severely tarnished the image of the SDP and is believed to have contributed to the party's setback in the recent Lower House election, which in turn led to Doi's resignation as party chief.

Tsujimoto bowed deeply several times upon entering the courtroom before stating in a tense but clear voice that she regrets from the bottom of the heart what she has done.

"I tried to work as hard as I could as a Diet member, but I have actually deeply betrayed the trust of the people," she said. "I am extremely sorry."

Goto said the scheme had not been intended for any personal benefit. The cash was meant to cover the expense of running Tsujimoto's office, she said.

"But this was against the purpose of the system" in which the state pays for the wages of Diet members' secretaries, she said. "I apologize for deepening the people's distrust against politicians."

According to the indictment, Tsujimoto and Goto conspired to defraud the government by registering one woman between October 1996 and March 1997 and another between April 1997 and December 1998 as policy secretaries at Tsujimoto's office.

As a reward for "lending" their names, one was paid 77,000 yen a month and the other 50,000 yen a month plus a bonus. The remainder of their state-paid salaries, about 16.2 million yen, was used to cover personnel and other operating expenses of Tsujimoto's office, the prosecutors said. The average annual salary of a state-paid secretary ranges between 7 million yen and 10 million yen.

Before registering the first secretary, according to prosecutors, Goto told Tsujimoto that it was "a waste" not to take advantage of the system, whereby the state covers the salaries of up to three secretaries for each lawmaker.

When Tsujimoto realized that Goto was talking about "borrowing" the names of people who would register as secretaries without ever working for her, she asked Goto if it was all right to do this kind of thing, the prosecutors said. Goto replied that it was "something everyone does, and besides, it helps cover office expenditures," they said.

They added that Tsujimoto then approached the two women and asked them if she could register them as her secretaries in name only.

And after a newsmagazine shed light on the case in March 2002, according to prosecutors, Tsujimoto and Goto met with the two women before holding a news conference to ensure their stories matched.

Tsujimoto falsely stated during her unsworn Diet testimony in April 2002 that the two secretaries were part of her policy planning team, they said. The lawmaker testified that she consulted the women about policy issues by phone.

While admitting all allegations leveled at their clients, lawyers representing Tsujimoto and Goto hinted that many other politicians were conducting similar scams at the time the case broke.

While several Diet members have been indicted on charges of misappropriating state-paid salaries for their secretaries in recent years, Tsujimoto is the only one to be indicted on that count even though she had not committed other offenses.

Tsujimoto's lawyer said the circumstances at the time the incident occurred should be the main issue in judging the case. Goto's defense admitted her conduct was wrong but said she had no idea she was defrauding the government.

The trial is expected to proceed at an unexpectedly fast pace -- the lawyers representing the two women agreed to all evidence presented by the prosecution -- and a sentence is expected early next year.

Outspoken Tsujimoto was a popular figure who harshly criticized the ruling bloc in Diet debates on corruption issues.

One of her targets in these debates was ex-Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker Muneo Suzuki, who is now facing trial on bribery charges. Tsujimoto was forced to give up her Diet seat in March 2002, shortly after Suzuki quit the LDP.

Following the day's session of the trial of Tsujimoto and Goto, Doi said she takes the pair's guilty plea "very seriously."

"I'd like to keep an eye on all developments in the trial," she said. Doi declined to say whether the party would deprive Tsujimoto of her party membership.

In a separate comment released through her secretary, Doi said the scandal had seriously affected the SDP's performance in the general election.

"I believe this problem had a great impact on my own election as well as the whole party," she said. Doi lost the contest in her Hyogo Prefecture constituency but managed to retain her Diet seat because she was also on the party's proportional representation ticket.

Supporters of Tsujimoto meanwhile emphasized that the court should treat her with leniency. Tsujimoto has already paid for her mistakes, they said, adding that many other politicians were doing similar things without being punished.

Cartoonist Kei Ishizaka, a friend of Tsujimoto's for 20 years, said the timing of Tsujimoto's arrest raised eyebrows. Tsujimoto was arrested in July, just as speculation was growing that the Lower House election would be held later in the year.