Entertainment Africa
To clinch Transnet business, business software giant SAP agreed to pay 10% “sales commission” to a company controlled by the Guptas. The evidence suggests the company – a little-known outpost of the Gupta empire – was deliberately interposed to obscure Gupta involvement and to launder the proceeds to them.
With €22-billion (about R330-billion) in revenue last year, German software multinational SAP should have all the expertise it needs to close major deals.
Instead, the #GuptaLeaks and related information show, the world’s third largest software company is not above calling in help from the politically connected, risking contravention of international anti-bribery laws.
AmaBhungane and Scorpio can reveal that in August 2015, SAP signed a “sales commission agreement” with a small Gupta-controlled company that specialises in selling 3D printers.
The terms suggest a thinly disguised kickback arrangement: If the Gupta company were the “effective cause” of SAP landing a Transnet contract worth R100-million or more, it would get 10%.
In the year to follow, SAP paid the company, CAD House, a whopping R99.9-million, suggesting SAP used the Gupta influence network to drive sales of a billion rand to Transnet and other state-owned companies.
SAP denies it paid kickbacks…
