The chief investment officer for the Swiss Government’s Zurich cantonal pension fund, BVK, has been dismissed following his arrest on various “corruption” charges.
Daniel Gloor, a 20-year public servant, was dismissed based on a confidential status report from the public prosecutor to the fund’s finance director, Dr Ursula Gut-Winterberger.
While details of the charges were scant this week, Dr Gut-Winterberger said in a statement on Monday that the board’s trust in Gloor was “destroyed beyond repair”. The abuse of trust was “flagrant, massive and systematic”, she is reported to have told local media in Zurich. Most of the journalists’ questions at the Monday press conference went unanswered.
The status report alleges serious misconduct in the use of the public position for private purposes.
It is understood the charges also follow the arrest last Thursday of an (unnamed) investment executive at specialist funds management firm BT&T Timelife AG.
BVK is a 14.7 billion euro ($18.1 billion) fund for employees of the canton of Zurich. However, Dr Gut-Winterberger assured members and pensioners of the fund that their money was safe. The fund, which was started in 1926, has about 90,000 members.
Dr Gut-Winterberger said that “no money had gone missing from the till” of the pension fund and that Gloor had admitted to his wrongdoing.
It is understood the police are investigating a relationship between BVK and BT&T Timelife in 2006. Prosecutors declined to comment this week.
It is thought that Dr Thomas Liebi, head of investment research, will fill in as head of the BVK asset management operation until a permanent replacement for Gloor is found.
The fund has a sophisticated range of investments from traditional through to real estate, private equity, long/short funds and commodities.
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