The top two managers of the Vatican Bank, which has been scandal plagued, have resigned after a high-ranking cleric’s arrest that had close ties to the bank. This is just another of a long line of embarrassments for the Holy See.
Paolo Cipriani, a director and Massimo Tulli a deputy director both stepped down just three days after Monsignor Nunzio Scarano’s arrest rocked the Vatican.
Scarano is accused with two others of plotting to smuggle more than $26 million from Switzerland into Italy.
The bank, known officially as Institute for Works of Religion, also created a new position of CRO or Chief Risk Officer, who is in charge of improving the banks compliance with regulations, at a banking institution that has operated in secrecy and lacking in transparency.
Scarano, who is 61, worked as the financial administration’s senior accountant, was arrested with a financial intermediary and a secret service agent.
According to the judge’s transcripts, Scarano, who is under investigation in two separate cases, mentioned in conversations over the phone the director of the bank, those conversations had been tapped by investigators.
The report from the judge said Scarano handled large sums of money and had the opinion he could act with impunity due to connections to the bank.
Judges have said that thus far no indication has been made that the Vatican Bank has any direct involvement in attempting to bring the $26 million illegally into the country.
