A former senior executive of a Japanese company who planted a pinhole camera under the sink of a handicapped toilet to film female colleagues was jailed for 10 weeks on Friday.

Shingo Yamamoto, 30, was caught after a 33-year-old woman noticed the camera drop to the floor in the restroom at the city office and called police.

The Japanese businessman, who lost his job as a result, had pleaded guilty to two of four charges of insulting modesty .

Investigations found that he had gone into the toilet at about 1pm on January 16 and taped the camera under the sink. He pointed it towards the toilet bowl and switched it on. Two women used the loo before it was found.

Yamamoto's lawyer, Mr Danny Quah, said in mitigation that it was a single criminal act carried out in a momentary lapse of judgment. He said his client had demonstrated his remorse by coming clean at the earliest opportunity.

He added that his client had apologised to the company and the victims and assisted the police investigation.

The company cannot be named due to a gag order on the victims of the crime, but Mr Quah said it was a "highly reputed subsidiary of a Japanese conglomerate".

Yamamoto, who had not managed to find a job since, could have been jailed for up to one year and/or fined on each charge.