Pope Francis on Thursday intensified the fight against corruption in the Vatican by strengthening the law to counter “money laundering, the financing of terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.” The pope issued a decree expanding the role and the reach of the Vatican’s Financial Intelligence Authority “in response to a recommendation” of Read more
Prosecutors allege two former top executives at the Vatican Bank repeatedly broke Italian laws on money-laundering by failing to give sufficient information when ordering multi-million-euro bank transfers. Key details missing on requested transfers included the identity of the owners of the funds and the reason for transfer, according to a Reuters report. While the prosecutors Read more
The new Vatican financial watchdog set up to prevent money-laundering says it uncovered six “suspicious transactions” last year, one involving the Vatican Bank. Two of those cases were forwarded to Vatican prosecutors for further investigation, and the other four may still warrant more formal probes, the Financial Information Agency said in its first annual report. Read more
Distressed by disloyalty, Pope Benedict has set up a special commission to investigate what has been popularly dubbed “Vati-leaks”. The establishment of the commission coincides with the Vatican’s launch of an internal criminal investigation into leaked personal confidential and financial documents which have exposed power stuggles inside the organisation. Monsignor Angelo Becciu, undersecretary in the Read more
The Vatican on Friday sought to explain its presence for the first time on a U.S. list of countries that are a potential hub for money laundering, saying it was only natural to be included given its recent efforts to conform to international standards. The U.S. State Department this week released its International Narcotics Control Read more
The Vatican has for the first time appeared on the U.S. State Department’s list of money-laundering centres but the tiny city-state is not rated as a high-risk country.
The 2012 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report was made public on Wednesday and Washington’s list of 190 countries classifies them in three categories: of primary concern, of concern and monitored.
The Vatican is in the second category, grouped with 67 other nations including Poland, Egypt, Ireland, Hungary and Chile.
It was added to the list because it was considered vulnerable to money-laundering and had recently established programmes to prevent it, a State Department official said.
“To be considered a jurisdiction of concern merely indicates that there is a vulnerability to a financial system by money launderers. With the large volumes of international currency that goes through the Holy See, it is a system that makes it vulnerable as a potential money-laundering center,” Susan Pittman of the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, told Reuters.
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Italian prosecutors have ordered the release of €23 million (NZ$41 million) seized from a Vatican Bank account in a money-laundering probe. The Vatican welcomed the move and said the funds were ordered returned after the Holy See issued new anti-money laundering and anti-terror financing laws to conform with EU and international norms, the Washington Post Read more
Starting April 1, the Vatican’s penalty for money laundering and financing terrorism is prison. Having disappeared from canon law some time back, the penalty of prison was reintroduced last December 30. It will come into effect on April 1. Along with the prison sentence, there are a raft of new regulations to govern the Vatican Bank, Read more