After all the ‘Sex abuse Scandals’..It is now ..!

Vatican bank investigated for money laundering

In yet another scandal for the Catholic Church, Italian authorities are investigating the Vatican Bank on suspicion of money laundering:

    The Bank of Italy investigation was prompted by two wire transfers which the Vatican Bank asked Credito Artigiano to carry out, the Bank of Italy said.

    The Vatican Bank did not provide enough information about the transfers — one for 20 million euros (about $26 million), and one for 3 million euros (about $4 million) — to comply with the law, prompting the Bank of Italy to suspend them automatically, it said.

    The Vatican Bank is subject to particularly stringent anti-money laundering regulations because Italian law does not consider it to operate within the European Union.

This is not the first time the bank, formally known as the Institute for Works of Religion, has been under suspicion. The bank has been accused in the past of laundering money for the Sicilian mafia and the Gambino crime family as well as helping Croatia’s pro-Nazi wartime government steal the assets of Holocaust victims.

Read Full report at
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/09/21/vatican_bank_investigated_for_money_laundering

Responses