SAP final report on the South Africa affair

The internal investigation report into the affair provides evidence of misconduct with Gupta contractors and irregularities in compliance processes.

However, SAP said it found no evidence of payments or attempted payments to South African government officials or employees of South African state-owned enterprises related to Transnet and Eskom transactions.

Anti-corruption measures initiated

SAP has made it clear that misconduct will not be tolerated. As a result, in the course of disciplinary proceedings led by an independent external legal advisor, three senior executives were first placed on leave in July 2017 and then formally suspended in October 2017.

These individuals have since left the company. South African labor law does not allow disciplinary proceedings to continue from this point.

The former employees have not received any severance pay, and SAP also reserves the right to take legal action. The fourth employee on leave has since returned to work.

Complementing the announcement in October 2017, SAP has fundamentally overhauled its global compliance processes and hired an additional compliance staff member at SAP Africa.

In addition, the independent compliance committee for SAP Africa now has expanded competencies. In addition, the content of the mandatory annual compliance training for SAP Africa employees has been expanded. This includes certification on SAP's business principles for employees with anti-corruption rules.

All South African partners are also currently undergoing revised due diligence processes. Going back to 2010, SAP is subjecting all public sector business in South Africa to further investigations.

Should any suspicions arise, SAP will pursue them with the same vigor as the investigations into Transnet and Eskom.

Cooperation with authorities

In November 2017, SAP offered the head of South Africa's Directorate for Priority Crime and Investigation (Hawks) any cooperation with ongoing investigations.

SAP also continues to cooperate with the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and provides all results to local and international authorities.

SAP says it attaches great importance to uncovering and fully clarifying misconduct. Internal compliance processes have now been fundamentally improved. However, complex investigations sooner or later reach their limits because a private company lacks the legal powers of authorities.

That is why SAP continues to work intensively with local and international agencies, because only they have the capability to conduct comprehensive investigations even across borders.

"In the course of the investigation, we learned a lot. This prompted us to review our business, our processes and our responsibilities to our employees, customers, partners and the South African public."

says Adaire Fox-Martin, member of the Executive Board of SAP SE and responsible for SAP's business in Central and Eastern Europe (MEE), Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Greater China.

"Even very good compliance systems do not provide complete security. The only thing that helps here is constant vigilance. Unfortunately, certain things have happened, but we want to prevent them in the future.

We therefore reiterate the apology we made to our stakeholders in South Africa last year. We remain committed to this country as well as to the entire continent and intend to continue growing and investing here."