VATICAN CITY
Boston.com
By NICOLE WINFIELD / Associated Press / February 18, 2014
VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican on Tuesday acknowledged recent infighting inside its financial watchdog agency which preceded the resignation of its president, a new development as Pope Francis works to reform the Holy See’s finances in meetings this week.
The board of the Financial Information Authority complained in a letter to the Vatican secretary of state that it was being kept in the dark about agency activities since the arrival of Swiss anti-money-laundering expert Rene Bruelhart as director, Rome daily Il Messaggero reported Tuesday.
Two weeks after that Jan. 16-dated letter, Pope Francis accepted the resignation of the agency president, Cardinal Attilio Nicora, who had clashed with Bruelhart.
The Vatican created the agency in 2010 as part of its first major push to comply with international anti-money-laundering standards. Its mission was to supervise, regulate and investigate the Holy See’s financial activities to ensure they complied with international norms, and to share financial information with other countries in the fight against money laundering and financing of terrorism.
Bruelhart, who previously headed Liechtenstein’s financial intelligence unit, joined the Vatican regulator in 2012. He since has been credited with delivering progress in the Vatican’s compliance with international financial norms and scoring membership in the coveted Egmont group of financial watchdog agencies.
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