Immobilien: „Verdacht von Korruptionsstraftaten“: Behörden durchsuchen Bayerische Versorgungskammer

Düsseldorf – German prosecutors have widened their investigation into the Bayerische Versorgungskammer (BVK) and the Deutsche Finance Group (DFG), focusing on alleged corruption crimes related to the company's loss-making real estate investments. Since early morning, the Munich State Attorney's Office I has been conducting searches at the BVK's headquarters.

The investigation centers around seven real estate projects in New York, Miami Beach, Beverly Hills, Chicago, and San Francisco, which the BVK invested in with the assistance of DFG. It is suspected that BVK managers and DFG employees may have received favors or gratuities in exchange for facilitating these investments. According to the prosecution, the suspects include a current and a former employee from the BVK's department responsible for capital investments in real estate, as well as a member of the management of Deutsche Finance.

Earlier in the day, investigators searched the DFG headquarters in Munich. The BVK had invested around 1.6 billion euros in US real estate through DFG-organized funds structures. The most notable property is the "Transamerica Pyramid" in San Francisco. The deals could potentially result in losses of up to 800 million euros for the BVK, while the chamber has already written off 163 million euros.

The BVK, the largest public-sector pension fund in Germany, manages assets worth approximately 122 billion euros for twelve trade and municipal pension institutions, with about one in five households in Bavaria qualifying for its benefits. The BVK has so far declined to comment on the inquiry following a request from the trade publication Handelsblatt.