Versorgungswerk der Zahnärztekammer Berlin (VZB), the pension fund for dentists in Berlin, Bremen and Brandenburg that is facing losses of €1.1bn, is demanding €82m in damages from auditing firm Baker Tilly.
The claim for damages is “directly and causally” related to the financial statements for 2023, VZB chair Thomas Scheiritz told IPE.
The amount of damages being claimed is based on VZB’s disbursements made after the completion of the audit, which was otherwise correct, from September 2024 onwards, Schieritz explained.
“Had the audit been conducted properly, even a superficial, random examination of individual investments would have revealed to the auditors that these investments were unlawful, prohibited, because they violated, for example, investment regulations,” Schieritz said.
In that case, the chair added, an unqualified audit opinion would not have been issued and, most importantly, “VZB’s unlawful investment practices would not have continued”.
Baker Tilly declined a request for comment.
The claim for damages from Baker Tilly follows the preparation of a lawsuit by the pension fund against ApoBank, audit and consulting firm Forvis Mazars, the city of Berlin, and nine former and current VZB committee members to try to ascertain responsibilities and recover €1.1bn in losses made through private markets investments.
VZB has asked the court in Berlin to determine jurisdiction for the lawsuit, as some advisers and former committee members are not residents of Germany’s capital.
New governance structure
Meanwhile IUZB, the Initiative of Independent Dentists Berlin, whose members are elected by delegates of the Zahnärztekammer Berlin (ZÄK Berlin), has put forward a position paper to change VZB’s governance.
VZB is the pension fund of ZÄK, which in turn elects representatives for the general assembly of the pension fund.
IUZB wants to turn the first pillar pension fund into a stock corporation (Aktiengesellschaft).
Under the proposal, the current supervisory committee would be replaced by a supervisory board, and the current management committee by an executive board as defined by German stock corporation law.
The general assembly would consist of 15 members, 12 dentists and three external experts serving as advisers. The assembly elects and appoints the members of the supervisory board.
The supervisory board, according to IUZB’s proposal, would consist of six members, including four dentists and two external experts, whose main tasks would be to appoint the management board and monitor compliance with laws and regulations.
The supervisory board would also serve as the investment committee, overseeing investment policy, and approving the investment plan submitted by the management board, investment limits for individual asset classes, the inclusion of new asset classes in the strategy, and receive reports on “problematic individual assets,” according to IUZB.
The management board would include three members: a dentist responsible for general administration, an actuary, and a board member responsible for investments, an external proven professional.
Gerhard Gneist, member of VZB’s representatives assembly, the highest body of the pension fund, and chair of IUZB, told IPE that the governance structure “must be professionalised”.
IUZB’s proposal aims to include people with know-how and expertise in the committees, like the management committee, that were previously run by dentists, he added.
The members of the pension fund will likely discuss the IUZB’s governance proposal at the first meeting of the newly elected representative assembly on April 18.
