IOR says deputy head removal 'normal' (3)

(ANSA) - Rome, December 1 - Vatican Bank IOR said Friday the removal of former deputy director-general Giulio Mattietti was part of "normal physiological management affairs," saying "many of the details published by the press are not correct". Mattietti was removed and escorted out of the Vatican on Monday, reportedly to preserve the integrity of documents and computer files he may have wanted to take with him. The IOR said "the measures emphasized by the media in these days are fully legitimate" and said a failure to divulge them was only aimed at "safeguarding those concerned". It said it distanced itself from many details of recent media reports.
    On Thursday well-informed sources told ANSA the Vatican bank had opened an internal probe into the activities of former deputy director general Mattietti.
    The sudden and drastic way he was removed was linked to the need to make sure he would not remove documents, they said.
    The probe will focus on those documents and on his computer files, the sources said.
    Mattietti's office at IOR has been closed, although it has not been sealed off, the sources said.
    IOR said Wednesday it had sacked Mattietti for so-far unknown reasons.
    The deputy head of the Vatican Press Office, Paloma Garca Ovejero, told ANSA that Mattietti "ceased his service on Monday November 27".
    Mattietti was appointed in November 2015 along with Director-General Gian Franco Mammi'.
    Another IOR staffer was also sacked recently, sources said.
    IOR, Istituto per le Opere Religiose (Institute for Religious Works), has been through a process of reform recently.