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Vatican bank ‘investigated over money laundering’
Business Digest: Inquiry launched after two suspicious transactions were reported
The head of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, is under investigation as part of a money-laundering inquiry, police sources say.
The inquiry was launched after two suspicious transactions were reported to tax police in Rome, much to the "astonishment" of the Vatican.
Police seized €23m that the Vatican Bank had tried to transfer from a small Italian bank called Credito Artigianato.
Rome magistrates are looking into claims that Gotti Tedeschi and the bank's chief executive Paolo Cipriani violated laws that require banks to disclose information on financial operations.
In a statement, the Vatican said: "The Holy See is perplexed and astonished by the initiatives of the Rome prosecutors, considering the data necessary is already available at the Bank of Italy."
Gotti Tedeschi, who was formerly head of Spanish bank Santander's Italian operations, has been in charge of the bank for a year.
Read a full report at BBC News . ·
