Acting chairman of the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK), Nawawi Pomolango, has instructed the anti-corruption body to gather information regarding allegations that the German software company SAP bribed several Indonesian officials.
The bribery allegations gained attention after the US Department of Justice released information about fines imposed on SAP SE in connection with bribery cases involving government officials in South Africa and Indonesia.
“I have directly asked KPK’s director of investigation and also director of PLPM (Community Report and Complaint Services) to immediately gather information on this,” said Nawawi, on Wednesday, January 17, 2024.
He asked the general public to be patient until the KPK receives complete information about the alleged bribery. “Once the initial information is collected, the investigation will commence,” Nawawi said.
“We will wait for the results of the information gathering and perhaps, in the near future, they will submit some kind of investigation order. The crucial thing from this information gathering is that they indeed find everything related to SAP,” he added.
One of the Indonesian government agencies suspected of receiving bribes from the German software company is the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP).
Minister of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries, Sakti Wahyu Trenggono, said the ministry is currently investigating the alleged bribery by SAP from 2015 until 2018.
Trenggono claimed to have just learned about the bribery case and mentioned that the ministry is identifying the project and application traces related to SAP in the context of the case.
“There should be traces. It means the application exists. It’s an application company, but we haven’t found any. So, that’s one of the things we are currently searching for,” said Trenggono.
Besides KKP, the Indonesian Ministry of Communication and Informatics’ Telecommunication and Information Accessibility Agency (Bakti Kominfo) is also suspected of receiving bribes from SAP.
Bakti Kominfo said in a statement that it is committed to fully supporting law enforcement in the bribery case involving the German software company, suggesting that it would conduct internal examinations and coordinate with relevant authorities to ensure its staff perform their duties properly and support the investigation of the bribery case.
The US Department of Justice recently fined SAP SE US$ 220 million for violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act related to bribery of government officials in South Africa and Indonesia.
According to court documents, SAP, through its representatives, was involved in bribery attempts against Indonesian officials to gain advantages and win various contracts at the Ministry of Maritime Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) and the Telecommunications and Information Financing Provider and Manager Institute (BP3TI), now known as Bakti Kominfo, during the period from 2015 to 2018.
