The first hearing in the money
laundering trial of two former Vatican Bank executives was
adjourned Wednesday because the case file was lost.
The former general manager of the bank whose official name
is Institute for Religious Works (IOR), Paolo Cipriani, and his
ex deputy Massimo Tulli must answer charges related to a probe
that in 2010 led to the freezing of 23 million euros over two
cash transfers involving the Vatican Bank that were deemed
suspicious.
The judge adjourned the hearing to December 2 pending a
search for the missing file, while prosecutors tried to minimize
the incident.
"Nothing has been lost," they said. "These things happen.
We already filed copies of the case file".
The trial is a fresh blow to the image of the bank after a
series of scandals over the years.
Italian banks effectively stopped dealing with the IOR in
2010 after the Bank of Italy ordered them to enforce strict
anti-money-laundering criteria to continue working with it.
From January 1 to February 12 last year, the Bank of Italy
froze all credit-card and ATM transactions inside the Vatican
City over its failure to fully implement international
anti-money-laundering standards.
The Vatican has made several reforms to introduce greater
financial transparency and fight money laundering since Pope
Francis was elected to the helm of the Catholic Church last
year.
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