SAP SE, headquartered in Germany, was a global business software company whose American Depositary Shares were registered with the SEC and traded on the New York Stock Exchange. SAP marketed its software all over the world through various country subsidiaries, including the following wholly-owned subsidiaries -- SAP South Africa Ltd., SAP Africa Ltd., and PT. SAP Indonesia.
According to the documents in this case, between 2013 and 2018, SAP conspired with others to pay bribes and provide other things of value, including gifts and shopping trips, intended for the benefit of South African and Indonesian foreign officials. SAP paid these bribes to secure business with various government agencies and state-owned entities. In South Africa, these included the City of Johannesburg, the City of Tshwane, the Department of Water and Sanitation, and Eskom Holdings Limited (a South African state-owned energy company). In Indonesia, SAP paid bribes to officials with the Indonesian Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and the country's state-owned Telecommunications and Information Accessibility Agency).
On January 10, 2024, the DOJ filed a two-count information in the Eastern District of Virginia against SAP alleging conspiracies to violate the antibribery and books and records provisions of the FCPA. On the same date, the DOJ entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the company with a term of three years. Under the terms of the settlement, SAP agreed to pay a criminal fine of $118,800,000 plus forfeiture of $103,396,765. The DOJ reduced the criminal penalty by $109,141 pursuant to the Criminal Division’s March 2023 Compensation Incentives and Clawbacks Pilot Program. The DOJ also agreed to credit up to $55,100,000 against the criminal penalty for payments the company made to South African authorities in their parallel enforcement action and to credit up to $85,046,035 against the forfeiture for the disgorgement the company paid in the parallel SEC proceeding. The $118.8 million penalty represented a 40 percent reduction off the bottom of the sentencing guidelines range. The company also agreed to report on the status of its anticorruption compliance for three years. The DOJ noted SAP's cooperation and remediation.
