|
 Rolando Marranci had worked for Promontory Financial Group advising
the Institute for Religious Works on cleaning up its accounts when
he was named acting deputy director July 1. The bank's senior
managers, Paolo Ciprianni and Massimo Tulli, had been forced out
after a Vatican accountant with close ties to the bank was arrested
for trying to bring 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from
Switzerland without declaring it at customs.
At the time of the ouster, the bank's president, Ernst Von Freyberg,
was named acting director while he continued on as president and
board member, a seeming conflict of interest that appears to be
resolved now that Marranci has taken over day-to-day operations of
the institute.
Von Freyberg remains as president.
Marranci's appointment was announced Saturday, days before the
Vatican is due to be evaluated by the Council of Europe's Moneyval
committee on its progress complying with international norms to
fight money laundering and terror financing.
The Vatican passed Moneyval's first test in the summer of 2012 but
received poor or failing grades for its financial watchdog agency
and the IOR, specifically the bank's ability to ensure that its
customers and transactions were clean.
Promontory has been going through the IOR's accounts to ensure they
comply with international norms. That task was due to have been
completed at the end of 2012 but has dragged on. The Holy See has
also passed a series of new laws to respond to Moneyval's
recommendations ahead of the new evaluation round.
[to top of second column] |
At the same time, Pope Francis named a commission of inquiry to look
into the bank's legal structure and activities as part of his
overall reform of the Holy See's finances.
Marranci, 60, retired in 2011 from Italy's Banca Nazionale del
Lavoro, where he had held several accounting positions and, among
other jobs, was chief financial officer of BNL's London branch.
[Associated
Press; NICOLE WINFIELD]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
