Director and deputy of Vatican bank resign
Tuesday, July 2, 2013
0
comments
The director and deputy director of the Vatican bank
have resigned amid a sweeping probe of the scandal-hit institution.
Paolo Cipriani and
Massimo Tulli handed in their resignations "in the best interest of the institute
and the Holy See", the Vatican said in a statement on Monday.
Their departures come
three days after a senior Catholic cleric who held accounts at the bank, Nunzio
Scarano, 61, was arrested in Italy for alleged corruption.
The shock resignation of
top management comes amid a probe into the Institute for Works of Religion
(IOR), as the bank is known, carried out under the scrutiny of Pope Francis
himself.
The IOR, which does not
lend money, manages assets of 7 billion euros ($A10 billion) and handles funds
for Vatican departments, Catholic charities and congregations as well as
priests and nuns living and working around the world.
Bank president Ernst von
Freyberg said that since 2010, "the IOR and its management have been
working hard to bring structures and processes in line with international
standards against money laundering".
"While we are
grateful for what has been achieved, it is clear today that we need new
leadership to increase the pace of this transformation process," he said.
The Vatican said von
Freyberg would "assume the functions of the General Director ad interim
with immediate effect" and a new position of "chief risk
officer" would be created to help the bank comply with international
financial regulations.
The bank has a troubled
history, including the collapse of the Banco Ambrosiano, in which the Holy See
was the main shareholder, and which had been accused of laundering money for
the Sicilian mafia.
The chairman of Banco
Ambrosiano, Roberto Calvi - dubbed "God's Banker" in the press - was
found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London in 1982 in a suspected murder
by mobsters.
In 2011, Pope Benedict
XVI created a new financial authority to reform the bank, with the aim of
getting the Vatican on a "white list" of countries that cooperate
with efforts against money laundering drawn up by the Organisation of Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Critics said his
approach was toothless and many had been hoping Francis would overhaul the
highest rungs of the institution.
In a bid to tighten
control of the bank's activities, the pope last week set up a five-member
commission, which is under orders to investigate the bank and report anything
it uncovers directly to him.
In the latest scandal to
hit the Vatican, police on Friday arrested senior cleric Nunzio Scarano on
suspicion of plotting to smuggle millions of euros into Italy.
Scarano is accused of
planning - with an Italian spy and a financial broker - to secretly fly 20
million euros in dirty money into Italy from Switzerland, purportedly as a
favour for shipping industry friends.
The cleric, who had
worked for years as a senior accountant for the Administration of the Patrimony
of the Apostolic See (APSA) and is currently being held in Rome's Regina Coeli
prison, pleaded his innocence and requested to be transferred to house arrest
or somewhere he can celebrate mass.
Categories:
0 comments:
Post a Comment