Panama bribery deal costs company $3.9 million

According to Reuters,  SAP signed the agreement with the purpose of reaching a settlement of the civil charges against  Vicente Eduardo García, a former SAP executive accused of  bribing officials in Panama to obtain a contract for $14.5 million.

The SEC said that poor internal controls in SAP allowed Garcia, who at the time was vice president of Global Strategic Sales for Latin America, to pay $145,000 in bribes to senior Panamanian officials in exchange for contracts with the company.  No officials have been identified although Garcia linked Ricardo Martinelli’s name to the deal when in court. Garcia is serving a 22 month jail term for his role in the scam.

The agreement obliges SAP to pay $3.7 million in fines and $189,000 in interest, “for having infringed the rules of the federal law that prohibits international corruption.”

SAP officials said that the agreement with the SEC “does not include any criminal prosecution against the company for bribery.”

It said the criminal liability in the matter was confined to the “behavior of Garcia,” who is serving a 22 month jail sentence.