VATICAN CITY
Daily Mail (UK)
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 06:30 EST, 2 July 2013
The director of the embattled Vatican bank and his deputy have resigned over a financial scandal which has already landed one monsignor in prison.
Paolo Cipriani and his deputy, Massimo Tulli, stepped down ‘in the best interest of the institute and the Holy See’, The Vatican has said.
The speed with which they resigned, however, indicated that the decision was not entirely theirs.
But the bank, known as the Institute for Religious Works, or IOR, has remained under the watchful eye of prosecutors amid fresh concerns it has been used as an offshore tax haven.
It was the latest turmoil to hit the IOR, which has long been the source of scandal for the Holy See.
Last year, the bank’s board ousted its then-president, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, for incompetence and erratic behavior.
Yesterday’s resignations and nominations of interim administrators represented a final overthrow of the bank’s old guard management and coincided with its efforts to comply with international regulations to fight money-laundering and terror financing.
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