SAN DIEGO — A disgraced former House lawmaker, Randy “Duke” Cunningham, lied to fellow lawmakers on a House ethics panel to disguise kickbacks from a defense contractor, according to a summary of an interview between the congressman and federal investigators.

Cunningham said he asked the House Ethics Committee in 2001 to review a sale of his yacht “Kelly C” to the defense contractor to avoid arousing suspicions when there was actually no sale. He fabricated the transaction and lied to lawmakers about it to “cover his bases” and make $100,000 in kickbacks appear legitimate.

Cunningham, a Republican, has not spoken publicly since going to prison in March 2006. He pleaded guilty in 2005 to taking $2.4 million in bribes from defense contractor Brent Wilkes and others in exchange for millions of dollars in government contracts. As part of his plea deal, he agreed to cooperate with prosecutors.

Mr. Wilkes has pleaded not guilty to bribery, fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy. His attorney, Mark Geragos, did not respond to a phone message yesterday.

Cunningham detailed the arrangement in two interviews with prosecutors and government agents at his Tucson, Ariz., prison in February, a week before Wilkes was indicted. The 11-page FBI summary of the interviews, part of a court filing dated July 13, details Cunningham’s financial transactions with Mr. Wilkes and another contractor, Mitch Wade, who pleaded guilty to bribery last year. Cunningham said he got into legislative “food fights” with Rep. Duncan Hunter, a Republican of California, and Senator Shelby, a Republican of Alabama, to secure more than $100 million in federal funding for Mr. Wilkes’s companies.