SAP office located at 1 Tower Pl #1100, South San Francisco. (Photo: Jason Doiy/ALM)

Multinational software company SAP and its subsidiaries will not be facing criminal prosecution for their alleged involvement in multiple bribery schemes, according to details of a recent settlement deal the company struck with the United States authorities.

The processes that culminated in the resolution involved lawyers from Baker McKenzie and Paul Hastings, which were engaged by SAP at different times, Law.com International gathered.

The technology company, which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange, was implicated for paying bribes to clinch deals and obtain improper business advantage in companies and state-owned firms across different countries.

"From at least December 2014 through December 2018, SAP employed third-party intermediaries and consultants in various schemes to make improper payments to government officials in order to obtain and retain business in South Africa, Greater Africa (Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ghana), and Indonesia," the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) stated in a court filing.

The practices uncovered violated the U.S. anti-bribery, books and records, and internal accounting controls provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), the agency said.

But now, the authorities will not be pressing charges as the long-running probe will end in a settlement deal that will see SAP part with over $220 million in penalties and disgorgement payments to the U.S. and South African authorities.

SAP had also entered into a three-year Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) with the agencies, protecting the company and its subsidiaries from prosecution on matters relating to the bribery investigation.

The Department of Justice (DoJ), in a statement released on Thursday, said; "Pursuant to the DPA, SAP will pay a criminal penalty of $118.8 million and administrative forfeiture of $103,396,765. SAP will also continue cooperating with the department in any ongoing or future criminal investigation arising during the term of the DPA."

"In addition, the department will credit up to $55.1 million of the criminal penalty against amounts that SAP pays to resolve an investigation by law enforcement authorities in South Africa for related conduct."

Acting assistant attorney general Nicole Argentieri of the DoJ's criminal division said the resolution with SAP demonstrates how "corporate enforcement policies incentivise companies to be good corporate citizens".

SAP, in its reaction to the deal, claimed the full resolution was due to its "significant remediation efforts" and cooperation with the authorities.

"As noted in the settlement agreements, SAP conducted a thorough and extensive investigation into historical misconduct and fully cooperated with the authorities."

When the news of the bribery scandal broke in 2017, SAP engaged Baker McKenzie as an external investigator. Although the company said the investigation found no evidence of payments to government officials or private companies in South Africa, it uncovered "indications of misconduct".

Meanwhile, specifics of Baker McKenzie's involvement in the case after the 2017 investigation remain unclear and it declined comment for this story, but SAP had earlier said the law firm was in regular communication with the authorities on its behalf.

For the settlement agreement with the DoJ, Paul Hastings' partners in Washington DC; global co-chair of litigation, Kwame Manley and two others on the White Collar Defense practice, Robert Luskin and Jason Fiebig acted for SAP.

Paul Hastings spokesperson confirmed the involvement of the partners but said the firm would not comment on the case.

This is not the first time Paul Hastings has guided SAP in settlements that could have resulted in prosecution.

In 2021, the duo of Manley and Luskin acted for the company when it signed a Non-Prosecution Agreement (NPA) with the Justice Department after admitting that it violated the U.S. Export Administration Regulations and the Iranian Transactions and Sanctions Regulations.

The company, as part of the agreement, paid combined penalties of more than $8 million to the authorities and remediation costs of more than $27 million.