SAP Sap SE

By Ben Glickman

German software company SAP will pay over $220 million to settle foreign bribery charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Department of Justice.

The SEC on Wednesday said it found that SAP allegedly violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act when, from at least December 2014 to January 2022, the company hired intermediaries to pay government officials to obtain public-sector business.

The SEC alleges the bribes occurred in South Africa, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Ghana, Indonesia and Azerbaijan and were recorded as legitimate business expenses.

The company entered a three-year deferred prosecution agreement with the government associated with the charges filed by DOJ, which specifically applies to schemes to pay bribes to officials in South Africa and Indonesia.

DOJ alleged that SAP and co-conspirators gave cash payments, political contributions, wire transfers and luxury goods to officials with the goal of obtaining an edge in contracts with various government actors.

SAP will also pay DOJ a $118.8 million criminal fine and agreed to a forfeiture of about $103 million, $85 million of which will be satisfied by disgorgement payments to the SEC.

SAP consented to the SEC's order finding it violated anti-bribery, recordkeeping and internal accounting controls provisions in securities law. The company agreed to cease and desist from the violations and to pay disgorgement plus prejudgement interest of more than $13.4 million.

SAP's payment to the SEC will be offset by up to $59 million to the South African government in connection with a parallel investigation. DOJ will credit up to $55.1 million of its criminal penalty against the amount SAP pays to resolve an investigation by South African authorities and will credit up to the full forfeiture amount against disgorgement to the SEC or South African authorities.

Write to Ben Glickman at ben.glickman@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 10, 2024 14:40 ET (19:40 GMT)

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