Taiji Sekiguchi, former President of the Sun Arrow company and his father Yoshihiro Sekiguchi were given prison sentences of one year, suspended for three years.

The Tokyo District Court was told that they had offered ¥2 million (£11,250/$14,000/€13,000) to former Olympic Organising Committee executive Haruyuki Takahashi.

The presiding judge Yasuaki Takahashi found that the pair had contacted Takahashi to ask for preferential treatment, including the signing of a licensing contract.

Sun Arrow sold stuffed toy versions of the Olympic mascot Miraitowa and Paralympic counterpart Someity.

In return, the pair were found to have paid 1.5 per cent of the total sales of the licensed products every three months into an account set up by Takahashi’s business acquaintance Joji Matsui.

The court found that payments had been made between January 2020 and April 2021.

The judge announced that the sentence passed on the Sekiguchis had been suspended because of the remorse shown by the pair for their actions.

The actual payments made were thought to have amounted to ¥7 million (£40,425/$50,282/€46,913), but the offences are subject to a statute of limitations and the pair were only indicted for the amount paid in the period which had not expired.

The company had previously supplied mascots Sukki, Nokki, Lekki and Tsukki, known as the Snowlets, for the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano and merchandise for the popular animated series "My Neighbor Totoro" and "Kiki’s Delivery Service".

The Sekiguchis were among 15 individuals who had been indicted for offering bribes to Takahashi.

Five have already been found guilty including Hironori Aoki, former chairman of business suit retailer Aoki Holdings who was sentenced to two and a half years in prison, suspended for four years.

Haruyuki Takahashi and Matsui both face charges for inducing the Sekiguchis and others to make the payments.

Takahashi was a senior managing director of advertising giant Dentsu.