Pretoria - The Special Tribunal on Wednesday ordered software producing company Systems Applications Products (SAP) to pay back at least R431 million to the Department of Water and Sanitation after an agreement between the two parties was declared unlawful and invalid.
The order comes after the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) conducted an extensive investigation into the affairs of the department in its dealings with SAP.
The investigations revealed that the department irregularly concluded software license and support agreements between 2015 and 2016 with SAP.
Armed with evidence, the SIU confronted the department and SAP and pointed out the wrongdoing.
The department is prohibited from using any of the software licensed under the 2015 and 2016 licence agreements.
SAP has also been ordered to pay the department an amount of R413 121 383, which represents the total amount the company received pursuant to the agreement.
At least R68m in yearly maintenance fees should be paid to the department.
In addition, SAP has to repay the department R 263 282 173.78 within five days of the date of the order.
The Tribunal said the other issue that remains in dispute is whether the software company is entitled to deduct payments it made to a third party during the execution of its duties.
“To enable the Special Tribunal to determine the issues, SAP will, within 15 court days of this order, file an affidavit solely dealing with the payments made to third party software companies and the factual basis for its contention that these expenses ought to be deducted from the amount to be paid to the Department of Water and Sanitation,” read the court order.
IOL