The Vatican Bank, also known as the Institute for Religious Works, has been charged with violating Italian law after attempting to transfer funds from one of its accounts in an Italian bank to two other banks, one of which is in Germany. Because of these allegations, an Italian court has frozen $30 million in Vatican funds (Rocca). Ten other banks are under investigation for having their fiscal residence in Italy but using the IOR as a shield to hide different dealings, such as tax or fraud evasion (The Straits Times). The investigation began after two suspicious transfers from an IOR account were detected, one for twenty million euros to a German branch of an American bank and one for 3 million euros to an Italian bank (News.gather.com).
The Vatican Bank has vowed to be committed to "complete transparency" in order to gain enrollment on the "White List," a list of countries that comply with international banking standards. Spokesman Father Federico Lombardi issued a letter claiming, "The current problem was caused by a misunderstanding - now being examined - between the IOR and the bank which received the transfer order" (News.gather.com). Lombardi has also assured that the IOR was merely transferring funds to its own accounts in other banks (Rocca). However, he has also made it clear that the IOR is extremely disgruntled at the fact that Italian magistrates publicly announced the allegations; "The nature and aims of the transactions under investigation could have been clarified with great simplicity." Furthermore, he believes that, because of the IOR's location in Vatican City, the IOR is "beyond the jurisdiction and surveillance" of the Bank of Italy rendering the allegations fraudulent to begin with (News.gather.com). Lombardi's letter also declared the IOR's commitment to the standards of the European Union and Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which fight terrorism and money laundering (News.
