Bernadette Wicks12 January 2024 | 10:57

OUTA welcomes sanctions against software giant SAP

The company has been implicated in graft at some South African state-owned entities.

OUTA welcomes sanctions against software giant SAP

Software giant SAP will pay more than R4 billion (over $220 million) to resolve investigations led by US authorities into schemes to pay bribes to government officials in South Africa and Indonesia. Picture: © moovstock/123rf.com

JOHANNESBURG - The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has welcomed the sanctions against German software maker SAP.  
 
The company has been implicated in graft at some South African state-owned entities.  
 
It's understood some contracts were intermediated by Gupta-linked companies. 
 
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) this week slapped the firm with R2.2 billion in restitutions following a landmark corporate alternative dispute resolution. 
   
OUTA CEO, Wayne Duvenage, described SAP’s conduct and involvement in corruption in South Africa as "despicable and outrageous". 
 
Duvenage said the alternative dispute resolution process helped to "bring these matters to a close and achieve some level of accountability". 
  
However, he said there’s still a long way to go before individuals involved were also held to account. 
   
SAP is also set to pay some R750 million to the criminal asset recovery account. 
 
OUTA also said it would like to see these funds used "to support the NPA in its efforts to prosecute state capture cases".