Vatican Bank Targeted in Italian Money-Laundering Probe, Repubblica Says
The Vatican Bank and 10 other lenders are being investigated by Italian magistrates for alleged fraud, la Repubblica reported, citing unidentified judicial officials.
Rome magistrates suspect that individuals residing in Italy used the Institute for Religious Works, or IOR, as the Vatican Bank is known, to evade taxes, launder money and carry out other fraud, the newspaper reported today. The Vatican had no comment on the report, said a spokeswoman, who declined to be identified, citing policy.
Investigators led by magistrates Nello Rossi and Stefano Rocco Fava discovered that 180 million euros ($219 million) passed through an Italian bank account held by the IOR over two years, Repubblica said. The beneficiaries of many transfers were anonymous, in violation of an Italian anti-money laundering law, the daily said.
The probe began after Bank of Italy investigators last year asked the finance police to look into suspicious movements in an account held by the IOR, Repubblica said.
The Vatican Bank was at the center of a scandal in the 1980s that led to the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano, amid debt of $1.3 billion. The Vatican paid $240 million to compensate Ambrosiano’s account holders without admitting any wrongdoing.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jeffrey Donovan at jdonovan26@bloomberg.net
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