NETHERLANDS - The fired board of the €1.5bn dentists scheme SPT is fighting against its sacking by SPT’s occupational pension association (BPVT) and said it still considered itself the scheme’s legitimate representative.

In a letter to the BPVT, the board said it would step down only after the Amsterdam corporate court (Ondernemingskamer) had appointed an administrator, as requested by supervisor De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB).

The board claimed the BPVT had unjustly based the sacking on the articles of association, and that its premise for such a decision was vague.

In addition, by informing the board of its plan at the last minute, the BPVT failed to observe due process, it said.

In the board’s opinion, the pension association unjustly accused the board of mishandling the case of a former SPT director, who was sacked in 2003, after awarding himself “liberal and illegal” increases to both his salary and pension rights.

Board member Toine Naber said: “We will step down after an administrator has been appointed, as we want to keep a workable situation.

“Therefore, it doesn’t make sense to file a court case about the matter. We expect that an administrator will sort things out.”

According to Naber, the DNB has made clear that it would like the BPVT’s decision-making in the matter to be limited.

A main cause of the conflict is that the SPT board had recommended merging the co-decision-making responsibilities of the BPVT and the scheme’s accountability body into a single organisation of participants.

Besides Naber, the (sacked) SPT board consists of Henk Donker and Jan van Herwijnen.

In January, chairman Lex van Gool and secretary Jan van Bentum were not re-appointed, as the BPVT had not called for the required general meeting.

The BPVT could not be contacted for a response, and, as a standing policy, the DNB does not comment on individual pension funds.

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