German prosecutors have confirmed to The Register that SAP's outgoing CTO is under investigation following allegations of sexual harassment.
Earlier this month, the German HQ'd software giant announced Jürgen Müller would leave the company by mutual agreement on September 30 following an "incident" at a company event. In a statement, Muller admitted his "behavior was inappropriate", saying he regretted being "inconsiderate" and apologized.
At the time, SAP declined to release further details.
Late last week, the Heidelberg Public Prosecutor's Office and the Mannheim Police Headquarters issued a statement stating that an investigation against a former manager of a large software company based in the Rhein-Neckar district had begun on suspicion of sexual harassment.
Officials were keen to emphasize that it was unclear whether there was enough evidence to press charges and that those involved should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Officials confirmed to The Register this week that Müller is the subject of the investigation, which is in its early stages.
In a statement, an SAP spokesperson said: "SAP is aware of the case and is cooperating fully with the authorities in their investigation."
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On Müller's departure, SAP said CEO Christian Klein would assume responsibility for most of the areas the CTO leads. However, the SAP Global Security & Cloud Compliance team is set to join the Customer Services & Delivery Board area under Thomas Saueressig, board member for customer services and delivery.
Müller joined SAP in 2013 as head of its Innovation Centre Network. Before that, he completed a PhD and worked as a researcher and teaching assistant at the Hasso Plattner Institute, an educational institution established by SAP's co-founder.
SAP said Müller played a key role in establishing the SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP), a central part of the vendor's strategy to help customers build cloud-based applications and integrate services across their SAP estate.
"We thank Jürgen Müller for his significant accomplishments and wish him well in his future endeavors," said Pekka Ala-Pietilä, chairman of SAP's supervisory board, in a statement earlier this month. ®