Recently it seemed as if the former DWS boss Asoka Wöhrmann had survived the investigation into greenwashing against the largest German fund company reasonably well. It is true that Wöhrmann had to vacate his chief post at DWS after the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office searched the business premises there a year ago. This May, however, he switched back to the listed Augsburg real estate investor Patrizia as CEO. The real estate company had him with one handsome million salary lured.
But now it has become known that the public prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt has been conducting formal investigations against the ex-DWS boss since January. Insiders confirmed a report by Handelsblatt, according to which the former head of the Deutsche Bank fund subsidiary is suspected of having committed capital investment fraud. The investigations were triggered by the former head of sustainability at DWS, Desirée Fixler. She had accused the Deutsche Bank subsidiary of presenting itself and securities funds as “greener” than they are. Two years ago she had herself Wall Street Journal disclosedwhereupon US authorities and, in January 2022, the Frankfurt public prosecutor’s office began investigations.
Initially, the investigations were against unknown persons, but now they are also specifically directed against an “individually accused person”, as the public prosecutor confirmed on Friday. The authorities are investigating “DWS Greenwashing” on suspicion of capital investment fraud. Since January 2023, these investigations have also been directed against “an individually accused person” and a company. Names would not be mentioned. When and how the process will be completed cannot be said at this time.
DWS said it had been working “actively, openly and transparently” with the authorities – and thus also with the public prosecutor – since the beginning of the investigation. “The clarification of the allegations and the conclusion of the external investigations continue to have the highest priority for the management”. At the same time, we continue to stand by the financial publications and prospectuses of the funds. Asoka Wöhrmann’s lawyer said that the comprehensive internal investigations by DWS into the allegations as early as 2022 had not revealed any indications of his client’s misconduct: “This was also confirmed in the report of the supervisory board in the DWS 2022 annual report, which was published in March 2023 .”
Wöhrmann’s successor, Stefan Hoops, had already admitted that DWS had previously been in marketing been a bit exuberant may be. Recently, it did not look as if DWS could hope for the case to be dropped: According to reports, the public prosecutor’s office and DWS have been negotiating the amount of a fine for a long time. However, it was recently considered unlikely that the authorities would bring charges. Investment fraud is difficult to prove, and investigators are breaking new legal ground when it comes to “greenwashing”.
Shareholders criticize high severance pay
It is unclear exactly when Wöhrmann and DWS found out about the investigation against him. DWS shareholders had recently criticized the high severance payment for Wöhrmann. As can be seen from the 2022 annual report, he had received 8.15 million euros as a farewell and also his management board salary of 5.6 million euros for the entire year, although he had left DWS in the summer.
In addition, DWS also assumed legal fees and the income tax due on them for five DWS managers, with Wöhrmann this totaled an enormous 1.4 million euros. However, these were probably not costs for criminal law advice, but for regulatory issues related to greenwashing allegations and a penalty for unauthorized use of private messenger services. “The costs assumed by the company concerned exclusively procedures in the interests of DWS,” said a spokesman.
The original version of the article was supplemented by a statement from Wöhrmann’s lawyer.