SAP’s $222 million fine: Unraveling the bribery web in South Africa, Tanzania, and others
The court documents show that SAP made a three-year deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the department concerning a criminal complaint that was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia and accused the organization on two counts of “conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery and books and records provisions of the FCPA relating to its scheme to pay bribes to South African officials, and conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provision of the FCPA for its scheme to pay bribes to Indonesian officials,” as seen in the website of the US’s Department of Justice.
The Scheme dates back to 2014 and is said to have run for almost a decade, as it came to a halt in 2022. The Department of Justice noted that the scheme involved several African countries, numbering around 5, including South Africa, and Tanzania.
“SAP paid bribes to officials at state-owned enterprises in South Africa and Indonesia to obtain valuable government business,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division.
“Today’s resolution—our second coordinated resolution with South African authorities in just over a year—marks an important moment in our ongoing fight against foreign bribery and corruption. We look forward to continuing to strengthen our relationship with South African authorities and others around the world.”
The Tanzanian news publication, The Citizen, also noted that the German company had offered bribes to top Tanzanian officials to win tenders.
“SAP is linked to offering bribes to top officials at the Tanznaia Port Authorities (TPA) in 2014/2015, to win the tender and is alleged to have colluded with TPA insiders to get preferential treatment on other multiple government deals that were meant for competitive bidding,” The Citizen’s report read in part.
“Senior officials at the TPA were given $800,000 in bribes to award $6.635 million of software tender to a partner firm of the German company,” the report adds.
The U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI’s International Corruption Unit are still conducting investigations.
