San Jose Police & Fire Department Retirement Plan should not change its investment with Och-Ziff Capital Management, despite the firm's African subsidiary's bribery charge settlement, said Ron Kumar, investment officer for the $3 billion pension fund, in a letter to the fund's investment committee.
Mr. Kumar, in an Oct. 14 letter to the plan's investment committee, said the pension fund committed $20 million to Och-Ziff Real Estate Fund III in June 2014 and $6 million is now invested in the fund.
Mr. Kumar's letter was contained in agenda materials for the investment committee's meeting Oct. 25.
In the letter, Mr. Kumar said the Och-Ziff fund does not have any investments in Africa and is a separate investment platform from other funds within the Och-Ziff fund family.
The Securities and Exchange Commission found that Och-Ziff used intermediaries, agents and business partners to pay bribes to high-level government officials to manage money for Libya's sovereign wealth fund, the $60 billion Libyan Investment Authority, Tripoli, and to secure mining rights in Libya, Chad, Niger, Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
As part of a settlement announced Sept. 29, Och-Ziff Capital Management Group will pay nearly $200 million to settle SEC charges of bribing African government officials, and a criminal penalty of $213 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement with the Justice Department.
Och-Ziff Chairman and CEO Daniel S. Och will pay nearly $2.2 million to settle charges he violated certain provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, along with Chief Financial Officer Joel M. Frank, who also settled the charges but whose penalty will be announced later. Both men settled without admitting or denying the findings.
