BBC News, 1
July 2013
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| The Vatican bank has been plagued by financial scandals for decades |
Paolo
Cipriani and Massimo Tulli offered to step down on Monday "in the best
interest of the institute and the Holy See'', the Vatican says.
It comes
three days after the arrest of Monsignor Nunzio Scarano.
The
61-year-old and two others are suspected of trying to move 20m euros ($26m;
£17m) illegally.
Monsignor
Scarano, a priest from southern Italy, worked for years as a senior accountant
for a Vatican department known as Apsa (the Administration of the Patrimony of
the Apostolic See).
He has been
under investigation by Italian police for a series of suspicious transactions
involving the recycling through the Vatican bank of a series of cheques
described as church donations.
The two
other men arrested on 28 July have been named as Giovanni Maria Zito, who is
described as an Italian secret service agent, and Giovanni Carenzio, a
financial broker.
Secretive
Ernst von
Freyberg, the current president of the bank, would serve as its interim
director, taking over from Mr Cipriani, a Vatican statement said.
A new
position of chief risk officer would also be created to improve compliance with
financial regulations.
Last week,
Pope Francis set up a commission of inquiry to look into the bank, which has
been beset by allegations of money laundering for decades. He had already named
a trusted cleric to oversee the way the institution had been managed.
Officially
known as the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), the bank is one of the
world's most secretive. It has 114 employees and 5.4bn euros of assets.
The scandal
is an embarrassment to the Vatican with Pope Francis campaigning for the
Catholic Church to be closer to the people of the developing world.
Some
churchmen are even questioning whether the Vatican needs its own bank, BBC Rome
correspondent David Willey reports.
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