The Vatican is being besieged by daily leaks of
money laundering at the Vatican bank, corruption in the awarding of
Vatican contracts, confidential documents and reports of financial
mismanagement and political infighting.
In June, a European commission will decide whether
the Holy See has abided by tough international anti-money
laundering and anti-terror finance laws given its reputation as a
scandal-plagued, secrecy-obsessed tax haven.
Roberto Calvi, the banker who managed the Vatican's
investments was found hanging from London's Blackfriars Bridge in
1982.
Calvi headed the Banco Ambrosiano, which collapsed
in 1982 after the disappearance of $1.3 billion in loans made to
dummy companies in Latin America. The Vatican had provided letters
of credit for the loans.
Murder charges were filed against five people,
including a major Mafia figure, but all were
acquitted.
While denying wrongdoing, the Vatican Bank paid $250
million to Ambrosiano's creditors.
The case remains unresolved.
A federal judge in Mississippi dismissed with
prejudice a fraud and racketeering lawsuit against the Holy See
filed in 2002 by the insurance commissioners of five southern
states alleging Vatican involvement in jailed financier Martin
Frankel's scheme to buy and loot insurance companies of some $200
million.