Pope Benedict XVI has appointed the president and staff for a new
independent department responsible for overseeing the financial
activities of Vatican agencies.
The move comes after an investigation by
Italian bank authorities into money transfers by the Vatican bank.
Cardinal Attilio Nicora, currently president of the Administration of
the Patrimony of the Holy See, will now also head the new "watchdog"
agency called the Financial Information Authority, which the Pope established at the end of 2010.
Four members of the directing council will support Cardinal Nicora,
who is charged with preventing money laundering, fraud and other
possible abuses in Vatican agencies and their affiliates. He will also
be responsible for maintaining relations with European Union financial
oversight bodies.
The Jan. 19 action by Pope Benedict comes after an investigation this
past September in which Italian authorities seized just over $30
million deposited by the Vatican's bank, known as the Institute for the
Works of Religion, at the private Italian bank Credito Artigiano SpA.
Authorities said the Vatican's bank had not complied with Italian
laws aimed at preventing money laundering by requiring the disclosure of
information about account holders and beneficiaries.
The head of the Vatican bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, maintained in
court that no money laundering or fraud had occurred and pointed to
internal transfer orders as the source of the problem.
Cardinal Nicora will be joined in his efforts by an all-Italian staff
of experts. Claudio Bianchi, Marcello Condemi, Giuseppe Dalla Torre del
Tempio di Sanguinetto, Cesare Testa, will form the council whose
purpose is to carry out the administrative and monitoring work of the
authority. If they see fit, they can also employ other individuals to
carry out their task.
Their director will later be appointed by Cardinal Nicora himself.
The group of four includes law, accounting and economics
professionals. Their first task will be to prepare the Vatican for April
1, when the Dec. 30 norms to guide financial activities will become
effective.
The authority is unprecedented in that it has the power to oversee
the activities of all Vatican departments and bodies that engage in any
exchange of currency or goods.
It is independent of the other existing
Vatican financial and economic bodies, including the Institute for
Religious Works.
Among the new norms the Holy See seeks to enact are measures to
prevent and combat illegal activities in financial and commercial
sectors. It also aims to put an anti-money laundering protocol in place
that will bring the Vatican up to the European standard.
With the measures, they aim to ensure that no money passing through the Vatican will finance criminal activity or terrorism.
Investigations by the new authority that result in evidence of
impropriety will be taken up in the Vatican's court system, in
association with the Italian penal system for crimes deserving of prison
time.
The newly-appointed president, Cardinal Nicora, has extensive
experience with Vatican finances, having headed the Administration of
the Patrimony of the Holy See since 2002.
The APSA, as it is called, is
responsible for administering property of the Holy See destined to
finance the functions of the Roman Curia.
SIC: CNA/INT'L