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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