VATICAN CITY
Reuters
Tue Dec 15, 2015
By Philip Pullella
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) – The Vatican should be much more aggressive in dealing with people suspected of financial crimes such as money laundering and step up prosecutions and indictments, a European finance watchdog agency said on Tuesday.
Moneyval, the monitoring body of the Council of Europe, said that while the Vatican has made great strides in cleaning up its scandal-plagued bank and other financial departments, it was still excessively timid on the judicial front.
There was no immediate response from the Vatican but Pope Francis has made cleaning up finances a priority and Holy See staff worked with the Moneyval evaluators.
The Strasbourg-based watchdog evaluates how a country’s financial legislation and practices comply with international standards on combating money laundering and other financial crimes.
The highly detailed 150-page report, Moneyval’s third evaluation of the tiny sovereign city-state since 2012, said many past deficiencies had been addressed.
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