Rome, Italy, Sep 21, 2010 / 11:49 am
Italian authorities began an investigation on Tuesday of the Vatican Bank's chairman, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, along with another unnamed executive at the bank, for suspected violations of a 2007 Italian law intended to fight money laundering. Both the Vatican Secretariat of State and the mayor of Rome expressed surprise at the allegations, and declared their confidence in the bank's leadership.
On September 15, civil authorities seized an amount of $30 million deposited by the Vatican's bank, known as the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), at the private Italian bank Credito Artigiano SpA. Authorities say the Vatican's bank has not complied with Italian laws requiring the disclosure of information about account holders and beneficiaries.
The Financial Information Unit of the Banca d'Italia—the Italian equivalent of the U.S. Federal Reserve—intervened and suspended two transactions between Credito Artigiano and the IOR, which was intending to send several million dollars to the German branch of J.P. Morgan in Frankfurt, and to the Banca del Fucino in central Italy.
IOR chairman Tedeschi told the Italian news agency ADN KRONOS that he had “strived, together with the General Director … to confront all the problems for which I am being investigated today.” He added that he has been working “full-time to solve them” since his appointment to head the bank.