A Tokyo judge on Wednesday handed a former Deutsche Bank salesman a suspended prison sentence for bribing a pension fund official with dinners and golf outings, and said more senior officials at the bank had “tacitly condoned” the practice.

Akira Ando, the judge overseeing the case at the Tokyo District Court, gave Shigeru Echigo, who worked at the Japanese investment arm of Deutsche Bank, a 10-month prison sentence, suspended for three years.

The judge also said there was evidence that senior managers at Deutsche Securities knew their staff were entertaining pension fund officials to gain business, but said there was no proof that Echigo had been given explicit instructions to bribe the official at the centre of this case.

“It is impossible to state definitively that this was a company-wide problem,” judge Ando added.

Deutsche Securities spokesman Takayuki Inoue has declined to comment on the case.

The 37-year-old former salesman…