were accounts under the control of the IOR.
[44] It was furthermore declared that Gotti
Tedeschi and another IOR manager were under investigation for money laundering
charges.[45] On 31 May 2011, Rome's attorney general released the €23 million in assets
which had been seized in September, apparently in acknowledgment of the steps taken
in the following months to conform the Institute to international standards.
On 24 May 2012, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was ousted as Head of the Vatican Bank because
of his alleged "failure to fulfill the primary functions of his office". [46] In July 2013, the money
laundering case against Gotti Tedeschi was dropped. [47] In March 2014, he was again
acquitted by the Roman court that followed the public prosecutor's position and relieved
Gotti Tedeschi from any responsibility in that operation. [48][49]
On 15 June 2013, with the approval of Pope Francis, the Cardinals' Commission
appointed Monsignor Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca as the Institute's Prelate ad
interim.[50] There was also speculation that opponents of reform might have withheld
information about possible scandals in Ricca's past or that they might have made up
unfounded rumours about Ricca's past.[51][52] It was reported that Ricca had offered his
resignation because of the controversy,[53][54][55] but the head of the Holy See's Press Office
declared the accusations as "not credible"[51] and Pope Francis himself informed
journalists that an inquiry "found nothing".[56]
On 28 June 2013, three persons were arrested by the Italian police on suspicion of
corruption and fraud. Allegedly, they had planned to smuggle €20 million in cash from
Switzerland into Italy. One of the arrested was Monsignore Nunzio Scarano, previously
senior accountant at APSA, the Vatican's Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic
See.[57] Subsequently, he was indicted with corruption and slander and set under house
arrest.[58] On 21 January 2014, he was further charged with money laundering through
IOR accounts in yet another investigation.[59] According to a police statement, millions of
euros in "false donations" from offshore companies had moved through Scarano's
accounts. Already in July 2013, the IOR had frozen the money in Scarano's accounts. As
news agency Reuters reported, Elena Guarino, the Salerno magistrate who led the
investigation, told reporters "the Vatican was fully cooperative and gave her much
information on Scarano's bank movements.".[60] In January 2016, Scarano was acquitted
of allegations of corruption, but was given a two-year sentence after being convicted of
lesser charges of making false allegations.[61] His money laundering trial in his hometown
of Salerno was still pending at this time.[61] The other person arrested was a bank person
and a former secret service agent.[62]
In February 2017, a court in Rome convicted two former top Vatican Bank officials Paolo
Cipriani and Massimo Tulliof for omissions in communications involving three small
transfers.[63] Cipriani was a former Vatican bank director and Tulliof was Cipriani's former
deputy.[64] They were, however, acquitted of a more serious money laundering charge,
which involved $60 million in transfers,[64] and were sentenced to four months and ten
days in prison.[64][63] They were also forced to return $6,000 each.[64]
In 2018, Vatican prosecutors indicted former Vatican Bank President Angelo Caloia, and
an attorney, Gabriele Liuzzo, for embezzling $62 million, using a real estate scam,
between 2001 and 2006.[65] The trial is still pending.[when?]
Process of reform
[edit]
Institutional milestones
[edit]
In August 2019, the IOR was re-structured by a chirograph of Pope Francis, which
established the IOR's present Statutes. According to Article 4 of the Chirograph, the
Institute consists of four bodies: A Supervisory Commission of Cardinals, a Board of
Superintendence, a Prelate and a Directorate. [17]
Reform steps 2010/2011
[edit]
On 1 January 2010, a renegotiated monetary agreement between the EU and the Vatican
City State entered into force, supplementing the monetary agreement between the
Vatican City State and Italy from the year 2000. Having signed the agreement, the Vatican
transposed EU legislation on euro counterfeiting and money laundering by the end of
2010 and accepted the European Court of Justice as the only jurisdiction responsible for
settling disputes under the agreement.[66]
On 30 December 2010, Pope Benedict XVI established the Vatican's independent
Financial Intelligence Authority (Autorità di Informazione Finanziaria, AIF) to oversee the
monetary and commercial activities of all Vatican-related institutions, including the IOR.
The Vatican's so-called "financial watchdog" monitors all Vatican financial operations and
ensures they conform with international norms against money-laundering and the
financing of terrorism.[67]
In June 2011, the Roman prosecutors ordered the release of the seized €23 million that
should have been transferred via an IOR account at Credito Artigiano. According to the
prosecutors, this request of release was due to the newly instituted mechanisms that
should help the Institute to conform to international anti-money laundering and
antiterrorist financing standards, such as the AIF's establishment. [68]
Reform steps 2012
[edit]
In July 2012, Moneyval, the Council of Europe's Committee of Experts on the Evaluation
of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism, published and
issued a report on the Vatican City State, by request of the Vatican itself. [69] This was the
first time that the Holy See had submitted its institutions and laws to the judgment of an
international external auditor. The Italian news magazine l'Espresso called this "an
historic watershed".[70] The Vatican received grades of "compliant" or "largely compliant"
