On the last day of May, dozens of officers from the police, the public prosecutor’s office, the Federal Criminal Office (BKA) and the financial supervisory authority (BaFin) entered the offices of Deutsche Bank and its asset management company DWS in Frankfurt.
The reason for this was the accusation of deception of investors regarding ecological projects, i.e. „greenwashing”, „eco-consciousness” or, in other words, „green lies”. However, in reality there were no such projects in the bid portfolio.
The Public Prosecutor’s Office accuses the company of making a strong impression in the prospectuses of investments that are environmentally friendly. An example of this is pointing out the aspect of protection of seas and oceans in order to encourage and attract potential investors with this noble idea.
It is worth noting that ecological and social factors have been an important element of big corporations’ strategies for some time now. They are aware of the sensitivity of society, which, especially in the face of war, cares about nature. They support, for example, the development of renewable energy sources and want to become independent from fossil fuels. Sometimes, however, listing ESG criteria as a flagship is just an empty marketing slogan.
In the case at hand, after a preliminary analysis of the documentation, the prosecution pointed out – „The investigation revealed sufficient factual evidence that, contrary to the data in the prospectuses of the DWS funds, ESG factors were included in only a minority of the investments.”
