VATICAN CITY
DNA (India)
Nick Squires
The first clue that the Institute for Works of Religion is a bank like no other lies just inside its imposing stone entrance. Tucked away on the left is an ATM machine with instructions in Latin: “Inserito scidulam quaeso ut faciundam cognoscas rationem” – insert your card to determine the desired operation.
The second clue lies in the Vatican Bank building itself, the magnificent gothic Tower of Pope Nicholas V, set within the walls of the tiny city state. Centuries ago the circular, 15th century tower was used as a papal prison.
Now it is the nerve centre of a campaign to hunt down modern-day miscreants as the Vatican, under the new management of Pope Francis, embarks on a concerted effort to crack down on money-laundering, tax evasion, hidden sources of income and other abuses that have besmirched the reputation of what Forbes last year called the “most secret bank in the world.”
Those efforts have been given greater urgency in the past month with a fresh scandal involving the arrest of a Catholic priest working as an accountant in the Vatican on suspicion of money-laundering. Nunzio Scarano, who is now in a Rome jail, is accused of laundering money through at least two accounts held at the bank and of trying illicitly to bring in 20 million euros in cash on a private jet from Switzerland. In a plot worthy of a Dan Brown thriller, two others were arrested at the same time – a former member of the Italian secret services and a shadowy financier.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.