Pension Board Answer about an audit

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The Retirement Board of the
Policeme n’s Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago
221 North LaSalle St – Suite 1626, Chicago, IL 60601
(312) 744- 3891 www.c hipabf.org
ELECTED TRUSTEES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR APPOINTED TRUSTEES
THOMAS A. BEYNA, President ERIN KEANE JENNIE HUANG BENNETT
MICHAEL K. LAPPE, Vice President MELISSA CONYE A R S - ERVIN
MICHAEL J. STISCAK, Recording Secretary SUSIE PARK
JOHN LALLY STEPHEN A. SKARDON
The Retirement Board (“Board”) of the Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago (“Fund”)
is aware of a recent blog post in Forbe s referencing a forensic audit of the Fund, and in response
assert:
All of the Board trustees – four of whom are current or retired members of the Chicago Police
Department and are themselves participants and beneficiaries of the Fund and four of whom are
Mayoral appointees – are, pursuant to the Illinois Pension Code, fiduciaries of the Fund and serve
without any monetary compensation. As fiduciaries, all Board trustees are required to act “solely in
the interest of the participants and beneficiaries ’ of the Fund.
Past and current Boards have employed an independent certified publ ic accounting firm –
currently Mitchell & Titus, LLP – to prepare audits of the Fund’s financial records as required by
law. Copies of those audited financial statements dating back to 2007 are available on the Fund’s
website at: https://chipabf.org/fund-reports/ . Within this audit, the firm conducts a fraud assessment
on an annual basis, as is consistent with traditional accounting practices.
Recently, c ertain annuitants, without asserting any wr ong doing on the part of the Fund, any Fund
employee , or any Board T rustee, past or current, and in fact repeatedly acknowledging no
wrong doing or fraudulent conduct has occurred, have demanded the Board contract with a nother
entity to conduct a desi red independent forensic audit . T he purpose of a forensic audit is in
substance to conduct an investigation as a means of discovering potential fraud, wrongdoing , or other
financial crimes. Given t hat no legitimate cause for this type of audit exists , it is not a prudent use of
pension fund resources to engage with an additional auditor to perform a forensic audit .
The Fund has and continues to respond to all proper inquiries made and public records requests as
provided by applicable law.
Sincerely,
The Retirement Board of the Policemen’s Annuity and Benefit Fund of Chicago