Where is Vatican Transparency as Italy Magistrates Probe Bank?

According to the article below, the Vatican has yet to formally commit to financial transparency, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, one week after Italian magistrates opened a probe into its bank for alleged violations of money-laundering laws. The Vatican say that they want to get on the Paris-based group’s so-called White List of nations that comply with global norms, but apparently, it has yet to start a transparency process. Are they dragging their feet?
    . . . June

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.Vatican Keeps OECD Waiting on Transparency as Italy Magistrates Probe Bank
Bloomberg:

The Vatican has yet to formally commit to financial transparency, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said one week after Italian magistrates opened a probe into its bank for alleged violations of money-laundering laws.

While the Holy See said last week that it’s in talks with the OECD about getting on the Paris-based group’s so-called White List of nations that comply with global norms, it has not taken the first step toward transparency, said Jeffrey Owens, head of the OECD’s Center for Tax Policy and Administration.

“The speed of the negotiations depends very much on them,” Owens said by phone from Singapore. “The first thing is for them to make a formal commitment to the standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.”

The Holy See said on Sept. 21 that the Vatican Bank, or the Institute for Religious Works, and its two top executives had been placed under investigation by Rome prosecutors for allegedly omitting data in wire transfers from an Italian account. Prosecutors froze 23 million euros ($31 million) in an IOR account at a Rome branch of Credito Artigiano SpA, newspapers including Il Sole 24 Ore said that day.

The IOR’s statutes call for it to collect and manage cash, assets and properties earmarked for religious purposes. The Vatican has denied wrongdoing in the probe, saying it stems from a “misunderstanding” between the IOR and Credito Artigiano.

‘God’s Banker’

Vatican Bank Chairman Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, who is also under investigation, said the Holy See set up a panel earlier this year to implement financial-transparency and anti-money- laundering rules. He declined to comment on the probe.


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Pope Still Voices Trust In Vatican Bank Director

 According to the article below, Pope Benedict XVI personally told the director of the Vatican Bank that he trusted him and appreciates the work he is doing after Italian authorities launched a money-laundering investigation into the bank. Italian prosecutors froze Vatican Bank transactions last week after the bank failed to provide all the information required by anti-money laundering rules. Tedeschi claims it was due to a misunderstanding.
    . . . June

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Pope voices trust in Vatican Bank head after probe
CNN.comSeptember 27, 2010 -- Updated 1349 GMT (2149 HKT):

Rome, Italy (CNN) -- Pope Benedict XVI personally told the director of the Vatican Bank that he trusted him and appreciates the work he is doing, the Vatican said Monday, after Italian authorities launched a money-laundering investigation into the bank.

Ettore Tedeschi, the bank head, was among the faithful meeting Benedict Sunday after the pope's weekly Angelus address.

Tedeschi kissed the pope's hand and gave him a copy of his book 'Money and Paradise,' and they exchanged a few words, the Vatican said.

Italian prosecutors last week froze Vatican Bank transactions for the first time ever, after the bank failed to provide all the information required by anti-money laundering rules.

Tedeschi told CNN last week he was incredulous and "humiliated" when he learned Italian investigators were looking into money-laundering allegations against the bank.
 
He said the probe was the result of a "misunderstanding."

Italian authorities informed the Vatican Bank about the probe on Tuesday, prosecutor Nello Rossi told CNN.
Prosecutors seized 23 million euros (about $30 million) in Vatican Bank transactions "as a cautionary measure" on Monday, he said.

"My first reaction was of incredulity and afterwards, that of feeling humiliated in the intense work that, along with (bank) Director-General (Paolo) Cipriani and all of the institute's managers, I've been carrying out," Tedeschi told CNN by e-mail Friday.

"After discussing with Dr. Cipriani the actions that spurred the inquiry, I was relieved, and I've realized that we had to immediately take action in explaining the facts to various levels and places," he said.

Tedeschi said he also realized the need to speed up the process of getting the Vatican Bank on the "white list" of banks that comply with internationally agreed standards, "to prevent other misunderstanding events like the one that just happened."

This is not the first time Italian prosecutors have investigated the bank, but probes are extremely rare, Rossi said.

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Money Laundering Probe - Vatican Will Fully Cooperate

The Vatican money laundering probe is still the focus of the Italian Government and according to the article below, President Ettore Gotti Tedeschi said that he was humiliated and baffled.He reaffirmed the need for the Vatican bank to get on the global ‘white list’ of banks that comply with internationally agreed standards. That would help!
   . . . June


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Vatican to cooperate with money laundering probe:
Brunei News.Net Saturday 25th September, 2010

President Ettore Gotti Tedeschi on Friday told CNN that he was humiliated and baffled by the Italian government’s decision to probe the bank on money laundering allegations and that he would cooperate fully with the investigation.

The Italian prosecutor, Nello Rossi, announced earlier in the week on Tuesday that he was looking into the banks activities after it learned of two transactions that did not meet anti-laundering regulations.

Italian prosecutor as a precautionary measure. The first transaction was for US$26 million and the second for US$4 million.

The transactions reportedly did not provide enough information, which gave rise to suspicion.

Tedeschi has reaffirmed the need for the Vatican bank to get on the global ‘white list’ of banks that comply with internationally agreed standards.

Tedeschi insists the bank is committed to transparency, but his comments were contradicted by the author Jeffrey Robinson who claims that the Vatican bank is the “most secret bank in the world” and that its financial reach is unknown.

Also unknown is the exact legal authority of Italy to investigate the bank as the Vatican is recognised as a sovereign territory, the two money transfers that were halted took place on Italian soil.

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Vatican Bank Scandal amid Italian Money-Laundering Probe

According to the article below, Italian authorities have seized $30 million from Vatican accounts and placed the bank's president and chief executive under investigation. The probe centers on two money transfers that allegedly didn't include all the information required by Italy's anti-money-laundering laws. I sincerely hope that it turns out to be a tempest in a teapot.
    . . . June


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Vatican Bank Scandal amid Italian Money-Laundering Probe
Yahoo! News:

When news first broke on Tuesday that Italian prosecutors were investigating the Vatican Bank for violations of anti-money-laundering regulations, the story seemed to be that the bank had returned to its old ways.

Reports in the press referenced the Vatican's connection to a 1980s financial scandal in which Italy's second largest bank, Banco Ambrosiano, went spectacularly bankrupt, collapsing under $1.3 billion of debt amid allegations of involvement by the Mafia and Masonic lodges. 'The Vatican Bank has a very negative image,' says Philip Willan, author of The Last Supper, a book about the death of the Banco Ambrosiano's chairman, who was found hanging under a London bridge, his pockets stuffed with rocks and thousands of dollars in cash. 'Every time there's a whiff of scandal, all the papers dig out their files.'

The Vatican Bank, a private bank that manages assets for religious orders and funds for Catholic charities, is estimated to hold assets worth $5 billion. In this latest scandal, Italian authorities have seized $30 million from Vatican accounts and placed the bank's president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, and chief executive, Paolo Cipriani, under investigation. The probe centers on two money transfers - $26 million to JPMorgan Frankfurt and $4 million to Italy's Banca del Fucino - that allegedly didn't include all the information required by Italy's anti-money-laundering laws. According to Italian reports, prosecutors are trying to find out for whom the money was destined and the identity of the sender.

The Vatican Bank denies any wrongdoing and puts the missing information down to a "procedural error." 
But the very fact the investigation exists at all is an indication that the days of Vatican secrecy - at least when it comes to banking - could soon be over. The worst of the bank's excesses came at the height of the Cold War, says Willan, when the Catholic Church was consumed by the threat of the Soviet Union. In a sharply divided world, the Holy See found itself on the same side as the Mafia, whose Sicilian vote-buying operations propped up the Christian Democrats against the communists. Meanwhile, the Vatican's sovereign status and tight-lipped policies offered Italians an offshore bank they could walk to, ideal for funneling funds to resistance groups in Eastern Europe or Central America, or otherwise moving money out of the country. "The feeling was that anything was justified if it was being done to combat communism," says Willan.

The bank's dealings got so complicated that it's not clear if even the Vatican knew what was going on. In the investigation following the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, the Vatican said it was surprised to find out it was the failed bank's largest shareholder. The Vatican Bank's then president, Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, avoided trial by claiming diplomatic immunity, and though it denied any misconduct, the Vatican agreed to pay $250 million to Banco Ambrosiano's creditors.

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