More than £30 million of Tayside’s public sector pension payments is tied up in large tobacco companies.
The Tayside Superannuation Fund (TSF) has £36.17m of its £2 billion pension pot invested in cigarette manufacturers, such as British American Tobacco, Imperial Tobacco and Philip Morris International.
A further £620,000 is invested in BAE Systems, which deals in arms.
The total was released by Dundee City Council, which administers the fund, following revelations more than £220m of public sector pension fund investment across Scotland is in tobacco companies.
This is despite Scottish Government guidelines which require public sector pension schemes to take ethical and social factors into account when making investment decisions.
Fife Council was unable to say how much, if any, of its pension fund was invested in tobacco or arms firms, saying the work was sub-contracted to investment fund managers.
With smoking responsible for around 13,000 deaths in Scotland each year, health campaigners said the figures were at odds with schemes to promote healthy living.
ASH Scotland chief executive Sheila Duffy said: “Scotland has a strong record in tackling the menace of tobacco, but it is time public bodies put their money where their mouths are, use their substantial pension funds for the public good and agree to clean their investments of all tobacco links.”
Contributors to the TSF include council workers in Dundee, Angus and Perth and Kinross, as well as employees of other organisations, including universities, arts centres and the trust which runs local authority leisure centres.
The Courier revealed last year that the the city council had asked investment fund managers to investigate claims that British American Tobacco had marketed cigarettes to children in Africa.
A decision on whether to continue ploughing pension funds into tobacco firms was deferred in November and is now due to be taken in March.
Liberal Democrat councillor Fraser Macpherson, who has put pressure on the council to disinvest, said superannuation payments should not be invested in companies that do not act ethically.
“I have written to the city council’s chief executive and the director of corporate services seeking clarification about the actions of the pension fund and assurances that all investments will henceforth take account of ethical and social considerations.”
A spokesman for Dundee City Council said: “Investment analysis and decision-making processes taken by the fund managers responsible for the Tayside Superannuation Fund follow environmental, social and corporate governance principles, particularly with regard to employee care, human rights, sustainability and the environment.
“The Tayside Superannuation Fund does currently allow investment in tobacco companies. A report will be considered on this subject at a meeting in March.”