Vatican Investigated for Potential Money-laundering Activities

Vatican Insider
March 8, 2012

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The danger of money-laundering in the Vatican is real

The United States Department of State has added the Vatican to a list of 67 Countries that could be potentially susceptible to money-laundering, for the first time. In the annual report on the International Narcotics Control Strategy, the U.S. government has listed the Holy See as a “Jurisdiction of Concern”, alongside Albania, the Czech Republic, Egypt, South Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam and Yemen. The “Jurisdiction of Concern” category is a notch below that of "Jurisdictions of Primary Concern," which amount to a watch list of "major money laundering countries," such as Afghanistan, Australia, Brazil, the Cayman Islands, China, Japan, Russia, Great Britain, The United States itself, Uruguay and Zimbabwe.

The Vatican launched its first anti-money-laundering programme in 2011, but another year will need to go by in order to gauge how efficient it is, a State Department official, who wished to remain anonymous, said. The Holy See is therefore “potentially vulnerable” to the problem, given the huge influx of money that circulates between the Holly See and the rest of the world. Pope Benedict XVI established the Financial Information Authority, the new financial watchdog aimed at overseeing the Vatican's finances, which should help it get in line with international regulations against money-laundering and terrorism financing.