Dec. 5 (UPI) — McKinsey & Company Africa Limited will pay more than $122 million to end a federal investigation into alleged bribery of South African officials from 2012 to 2016, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

McKinsey and Company agreed to a three-year deferred prosecution after company officials were charged with one count of conspiracy to violate the anti-bribery provisions of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the Department of Justice announced in a press release.

Vikas Sagar, a former senior partner at McKinsey who worked in the company’s South Africa office, has pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to violate the FCPA.

“McKinsey Africa bribed South African officials in order to obtain lucrative consulting business that generated tens of millions in profits,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole Argentieri said.

“As a consequence, McKinsey Africa has agreed to pay a criminal penalty of more than $122 million,” Argentieri added.

South African federal prosecutors worked with the Justice Department to coordinate the resolution.

The Department of Justice said McKinsey Africa officials agreed to pay bribes to South African officials to obtain non-public information on bids for consulting contracts regarding two state-owned South African businesses.

One, Transnet SOC Limited, owns ports, rails and pipelines in South Africa, while the other, Eskom Holdings SOC Limited, is an energy company.

After securing sensitive and confidential information on bids for lucrative consulting contracts with the two state-owned companies, McKinsey Africa officials allegedly submitted winning bids, while knowing its South African business partners would pay a portion of the bribes, according to the Department of Justice.

McKinsey and McKinsey Africa generated a profit of about $85 million through the alleged bribery scheme, federal prosecutors said.

McKinsey is a Chicago-based multinational consulting firm that was founded in 1926 and provides professional consulting services to governments, corporations and other organizations.