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US attorney Jessica D Aber said SAP has accepted responsibility for corrupt practices in South Africa and Indonesia that ‘hurt honest businesses engaging in global commerce’.
The German software company SAP has agreed to pay more than $220m to settle US investigations into alleged bribery actions.
The US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said SAP and co-conspirators made bribe payments to officials in South Africa and Indonesia. These bribes were in the form of cash payments, political contributions, wire transfers and luxury goods purchased during shopping trips, according to the US department.
The Justice Department claims that these activities were conducted by SAP to obtain “improper advantages” in connection with various contracts with the departments and agencies of both countries.
The US organisations said SAP violated the country’s Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by its actions and that it has agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $118.8m million and an administrative forfeiture of more than $103m.
“SAP has accepted responsibility for corrupt practices that hurt honest businesses engaging in global commerce,” said US attorney Jessica D Aber. “We will continue to vigorously prosecute bribery cases to protect domestic companies that follow the law while participating in the international marketplace.”
Nicole M Argentieri, acting assistant attorney general, said the resolution is the Justice Department’s second coordinated resolution with South African authorities in a year and marks an “important moment in our ongoing fight against foreign bribery and corruption”.
“SAP paid bribes to officials at state-owned enterprises in South Africa and Indonesia to obtain valuable government business,” Argentieri said.
“This case demonstrates not only the critical importance of coordinated international efforts to combat corruption, but also how our corporate enforcement policies incentivise companies to be good corporate citizens, by cooperating with our investigations and appropriately remediating, so that we can take strong action to address misconduct.”
Last September, SAP announced an acquisition of German start-up LeanIX to improve its ability to help companies modernise their software stacks more quickly. SAP completed this acquisition last November.
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