Vatican City could be hub for money laundering, says U.S. (The timing of this is rich)

Daily Mail ^ | 03/09/2012 | Nick Pisa

[Pyro7480]

Drug enforcement chiefs have for the first time identified the Vatican as a possible centre for money laundering from criminal activity.

The report by the American State Department's International Narcotics Control Strategy lists the Holy See as one of 68 countries including Yemen, Algeria and North Korea, describing it as a 'country of concern' for money laundering or other financial crimes.

Officials said they had placed the Vatican on its watch list because of the 'huge amount of cash' that flows into the tiny city state and also because it was still unclear how effective anti money laundering legislation introduced last year by Pope Benedict XVI had been....

Prosecutors in Rome are currently investigating two transfers totalling 23 million Euros from the Vatican Bank, or the Institute of Religious Works to give it its proper name, to two smaller banks.

The transactions took place in September 2010 and as a result the head of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi and his chief executive Paolo Cipriani, were placed under official investigation by Rome prosecutors and the 23 million Euro was also seized as part of the investigation.

Officials were tipped off about the two suspicious transactions by the Bank of Italy, as the Vatican Bank was said to have 'failed to disclose fully' all the information it was supposed to regarding the transactions as per international banking laws.

[stephenjohnbanker]

“” If theres one thing this administration knows about, it’s money laundering! “”

Folks, we have a WINNER!

[stephenjohnbanker]

Sounds like a great place to live.

[marstegreg]

Folks, we have a WINNER!

Thank you! Thank you!

[mkjessup]

Thanks for the kind invite, many moons ago I almost went to work for an FM station there, 'WSOS' but as things go in radio, sometimes they 'click' and sometimes they don't. I spent a lot of years in Jacksonville with WCRJ both in country and news/talk format, so my familiarity with St. Augustine is pretty good although I've never actually lived in your locale, I know one thing: you and yours are definitely blessed to be in that part of the Sunshine State.

When I was a little kid (a REAL long time ago), my parents and I were passing through St. Augustine on our way back from Orlando, and we were approaching the OLD Bridge of Lions (before it got upgraded) and the bells started ringing, the barriers came down, there was a boat going up the St. John's, and on that hot August day, my Mom said for some unknown reason "wouldn't it be funny if the drawbridge got stuck?" and sure enough, she called the shot, the bridge wouldn't go back down, and we had to sit in that heat with all those other motorists for almost an hour while a Coast Guard cutter came down the St. John's to literally throw the switch under the bridge, I gotta laugh.

Best to you always Manc! :)

[stephenjohnbanker]

Take a bow....

by the way, why isn’t anyone in D.C. tracing all that money the Obammunist sent out? That alone would be enough to hang him. Where did the 17 BILLION sent to N.J. go?

[jboot]

Here we see our tax dollars already hard at work persecuting Christians. And this is only the beginning.

Just think how much work the DOJ will have on their hands once same-sex marriage is recognized as a civil right in US law. Churches that refuse to honor the "right" will be shut down in every community and We the People will foot the bill for everything from lawyers to locksmiths.

[manc]

Nope St Augustine in St Johns county north east FL.

http://www.augustine.com/

[manc]

LOL, Hate when those things happen. We're just north of the city in between JAX and the old city which is a great location for us. I spent so much time looking at all issues of life from taxes to how people vote to even the local laws. It paid off for us but it really surprises me how many just move and not understand how the area is. For instance my youngest is at soccer and two couples were complaining that there are no Sak 5th or indoor hockey area and one guy said we should have street lights and cycling lanes and more sidewalks along the main roads. My wife explained that we do not have those thing minus the stores because it keeps our taxes down and the night sky with stars is much better to see. As for the stores, I am about 5 to 7 mins drive from a fish monger, much caught that day by them, next to that is a baker and next to that is a greengrocer , all local family owned. There is a small country like grocery store If we need the bigger stores we drive into town which is about a 20 min drive If one feels you want the city then JAX is 30 mins drive and one traffic light In the summer the drive down this road is beautiful as all the tress meet in the middle and form like a tunnel with the sun shining through http://farm5.staticflickr.com/4062/4252034891_0238a9fb0d_z.jpg

[manc]

sorry not sure why there is a line through half the words but hopefully you can read it.

[mkjessup]

No worries, I could read everything just fine, it looks like a stray HTML 'strikethrough' code got in there somehow, but no biggie.

I always loved driving down A1A which was still kind of 'off the beaten path' even with the modernization that crept in from everywhere, and a little south of St. Augustine (Flagler Beach?) there used to be a little motel literally built on a sand dune next to the ocean, the 'Driftwood' and it had quite a nice restaurant at one time, great steaks and the view was naturally terrific.

I envy you!

[manc]

Smiles

I know exactly where you mean down in Flager,anyway go to get the dinner on so have a nice weekend.

[BuckeyeTexan]

IANAC, but this seems to me like a very public effort to denigrate the Catholic Church.

[steve86]

AP version the other day

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2856006/posts

[EEGator]

I love that Greek Restaurant on Cathedral Plaza.

[know-the-law]

sfl

[Bigg Red]

Someone posted another story about this a few days ago. Another FReeper commented that this is very big because banks are not allowed under the law to do any business with any organization that is on a list such as this.

Just one of the many arrows in the quiver of the Obamanites in their attack on the Church.

[Munz]

Obama will stop at nothing and no one who goes against him

America better wake up and hope that we haven’t hit the snooze button one too many times already

[Mariner]

I once knew a Jehovah's Witness who was adamant that when government went after the "church" (Christians) via official means, that's the last sign before the anti-Christ. Has to do with the partnership of Christianity and state finally being broken.

Does that ring true with Catholics and Evangelicals?

[marstegreg]

by the way, why isn’t anyone in D.C. tracing all that money the Obammunist sent out? That alone would be enough to hang him. Where did the 17 BILLION sent to N.J. go?

Corizine is a criminal. I’m sure he knows a lot.
I haven’t quite figured out this “green” energy business. The way they push it, shows how much it means to them. If it means a lot to them, we should be very worried. Apparently “wind and solar” didn’t launder enough, so now there’s algea. What’s next? (I don’t see algae panning out but at least he’s got the military buying it for $400 per gallon)

[stephenjohnbanker]

There isn’t enough algae to run a farmers farm : )