Deutsche Bank has landed itself in hot water after a Tokyo judge found a former employee guilty of bribing public servants and said more senior officials at the bank had condoned the practice.

Deutsche Bank has found itself embroiled in a bribery scandal after a Tokyo judge found a former employee guilty of wining and dining Japanese public servants and said senior officials at the bank had condoned the practice, according to Reuters.

Shigeru Echigo - who worked as a salesman at the Japanese investment arm of Deutsche Bank - was handed a ten month suspended prison sentence for bribing a pension fund official with dinners and golf outings.

Prosecutors reportedly said Echigo spent 900,000 yen ($8,800) entertaining a pension-fund executive on 15 occasions in 2012. Echigo argued that he was following the instructions of his managers and that it was widespread at the German bank’s Japan brokerage unit.

Tokyo District Court Chief Judge Akira Ando said Echigo can’t be strongly blamed for the offenses because his bosses remained silent and failed to stop them. However his actions didn’t reflect institutional misconduct, Ando added.

It is against Japanese criminal law to provide benefits to public servants with the intention of obtaining business from them. Company officials who oversee public retirement funds as part of their assets under management are defined as civil servants. The law carries a maximum punishment of three years in prison or a fine of 2.5 million yen.

Deutsche Bank declined to comment on the case.