VATICAN CITY – A “misunderstanding” between banks was the cause for the Vatican bank being investigated by Italian authorities on suspicion of money laundering, the Vatican said yesterday.
The Vatican also said its bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), was committed to “complete transparency” and it was working to secure inclusion in the “White List” of states that comply with international standards of banking.
It outlined its defence in a letter sent to the Financial Timesand distributed by its press office to journalists in Rome in a defence of the image of the Holy See and that of its bank.
“The current problem was caused by a misunderstanding – now being examined – between the IOR and the bank which received the transfer order,” spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi said in the letter.
On Tuesday, Rome magistrates put the IOR’s top two officials, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, its president, and director general Paolo Cipriani, under investigation and froze €23 million of its funds in Italy.
Two recent transfers from an IOR account in an Italian bank were deemed suspicious by financial police and blocked. One was a transfer of €20 million to a German branch of a US bank, and the other of €3 million to an Italian bank. – (Reuters)