Software giant SAP disciplines execs

German company is making sweeping changes after a US corruption probe into its Gupta links.

Global business planning software giant SAP is making sweeping changes to its sales practices in countries around the world, the German company said, as it revealed it is the subject of a US corruption probe tied to its South Africa business.

Adaire Fox-Martin, SAP executive board member in charge of global customer operations, told Reuters in an interview yesterday that its ongoing investigation into corrupt sales practices related to South Africa government contracts had led it to take disciplinary actions against three top managers.

SA media reported in July that SAP paid alleged kickbacks in the form of sales commissions to a firm linked to the politically connected Gupta family.

“We hope that the actions we have taken and our responsiveness … demonstrates how heartfelt this issue is for us [and] how disappointed we are that SAP has been identified with wrongdoing in this way,” Fox-Martin said. “We have wholeheartedly and unreservedly apologised for this activity.” The response comes after SAP was hit last year with a $3.9 million (R55.3 million) fine by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which found the firm had failed to maintain sufficient internal controls to prevent a bribery scheme involving a former sales executive who won lucrative contracts with the Panamanian government.

Fox-Martin said an internal probe by the company had found loopholes in its compliance and due diligence controls on how it conducts sales in SA and other countries.

SAP said it was instituting extensive additional compliance and due diligence controls on the use of third-party sales agents and resellers and would conduct stepped-up audits worldwide.