Italian authorities have arrested a senior priest on suspicion of fraud and corruption throughout an investigation into the scandal-plagued Vatican’s central bank.
Nunzio Scarano was taken into custody on Friday after a probe of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) revealed a suspected international fraud scheme.
Scarano was arrested along with Giovanni Maria Zito, a former member of the Italian secret services and Giovanni Carinzo, a financial broker.
Prosecutors say Scarano paid Zito 400,000 euros (USD 523,000) to transport 20 million euros in cash from Switzerland to Italy onboard Zito’s private jet.
Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said Scarano was suspended from his accounting post at the Vatican’s central bank Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) nearly a month ago “after his superiors learnt about an investigation into his activities.”
Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica reported that Scaranao is also under investigation by in the city Salerno on suspicion of money laundering.
Only priests, religious, Catholic institutions, employees of Vatican City State and diplomats accredited to the Holy See are allowed to have accounts at the IOR, but the bank reportedly also hosts accounts for Italian politicians and organized crime.
During its 71-year history, the bank has been linked to fraud and money laundering, including a scandal in the 1990s over allegedly laundering heroin profits for the Gambino crime family.
In 2012, the Vatican was criticized by the Moneyval committee of the Council of Europe for its lack of independent supervision over the IOR, which employs over 100 personnel.
Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, named the new pope on March 13, has embarked on a mission to surmount a range of problems in the Church including sex abuse allegations, squabbling within the Vatican and the threat of secularism.
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Freedom Afric
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