EDITORIAL: SAP tripped up by dirty linen
The extent of corporate corruption coming to light through the Gupta saga is alarming
How disappointing that global software giant SAP reacted with a flat denial and a threat to take action against the media to reports alleging that it had paid kickbacks to a Gupta-owned company to secure a Transnet contract. While we no longer have any expectation that SA’s law-enforcement agencies will investigate either corporate or public corruption, especially where powerful people such as the Guptas and Duduzane Zuma are involved, the same will not be true in Germany and the US, where SAP is listed. Japanese firm Hitachi, which paid a $1m "success fee" to an ANC-owned company prior to securing the contract to build the boilers at Eskom’s Medupi plant, was fined $19m by US authorities. It was also banned from accessing further loans from the African Development Bank. SAP can, therefore, expect to be thoroughly investigated. And with more and more big corporations becoming caught up in the state-capture web, a degree of caution and an immediate internal investigation would have b...
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