Red light for sex on council funds

TOKYO (Reuter) - Japanese town councillors who spent public money in a Bangkok brothel will have to pay it back, a council official said yesterday.

The 13 councillors from Yoshino in southern Shikoku island must return 2m yen (pounds 10,600) to the town coffers to cover the cost of their September 1988 trip which included a visit to the brothel. Local residents, enraged by this use of public money, began legal proceedings. On Thursday, a court ruled in their favour.