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Europe Calls on Vatican to Take More Action on Financial Crime

By Francis X. Rocca
Wall Street Journal
December 15, 2015

http://www.wsj.com/articles/europe-calls-on-vatican-to-take-more-action-on-financial-crime-1450174421

VATICAN CITY—A European watchdog has put the Vatican on notice to prosecute those suspected of financial crimes now that the city state has brought its laws on money laundering and terrorist financing in line with international standards.

The Vatican “needs to deliver some real results on the prosecutorial side,” said a report published Tuesday by the Council of Europe’s Moneyval committee. Nobody has yet been prosecuted under a 2013 Vatican anti-moneylaundering law.

The committee praised the “intensive review process” at the scandal-plagued Vatican bank. The bank has closed around 4,800 accounts, in some cases because a client’s profile didn't conform with the bank’s stated mission to serve “works of religion.”

The reported noted that the Holy See’s own financial supervisor and regulator is still inspecting APSA, an entity that serves as the Vatican’s treasury though it has also functioned as a financial institution for outside clients.




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