教皇聘請前白宮反恐專家洗刷梵蒂岡銀行洗錢臭名
????所有對華爾街金融機構憤憤不已的股東們都從教皇的金玉良言中學到了一課。 ????教皇弗朗西斯一世剛剛砍掉了全部由意大利男性組成的、負責監管梵蒂岡財務活動的機構,藉此與飽受洗錢丑聞困擾的前任劃清界限。這是這位新教皇力圖清理門戶、對外開放的最新跡象,而教會或許是近幾年來唯一丑聞賽過華爾街的機構。 ????鑒于這位新教皇在梵蒂岡的最初兩年大部分時間都在打破禁錮,大家或許可以料想得到,他選擇的接替團隊會有些出人意外——包括一位喬治?W?布什時期的白宮反恐專家。當年,在此君的帶領下,美國最終追蹤、收了薩達姆?侯賽因數百萬美元的非法資金。 ????現任哥倫比亞特區戰略與國際研究中心(Center for Strategic and International Studies)高級顧問的胡安?薩拉特是上周五獲得任命的梵蒂岡金融信息局(AIF)理事會四名成員之一。爆發一系列丑聞后,教皇本篤十六世成立了AIF,清理梵蒂岡的財務活動。 ????依照神圣的標準選出的理事會其他三名成員是:意大利郵政部門保險機構負責人瑪利亞?比安卡?法里納,前新加坡央行行長約瑟夫?皮萊,和管理并為慈善機構提供咨詢的前銀行家馬克?奧登達爾。 ????這4人將一起監管雷內?布魯哈特的工作。這位瑞士律師自從2012年起開始掌管AIF。 ????梵蒂岡一位消息人士告訴路透社(Reuters)稱:“布魯哈特想要一個與他合作的理事會,看起來,教皇聽從了他的意見,讓那些老人收拾包袱走人。” ????AIF負責監管梵蒂岡銀行——宗教事務機構(Institute for Works of Religion)的經營等等,后者近年來一直處于各種指控的核心位置。這家銀行的一名財務人員蒙席?努齊奧?史卡拉諾目前正在受審,因為他被控密謀幫助自己的富人朋友避稅,金額高達數百萬歐元。(財富中文網) |
????All you discontented shareholders of Wall St institutions–take a leaf out of the Holy Father’s book. ????Pope Francis has just axed the all-male, all-Italian board of the body that oversees the Vatican’s financial activities, aiming to draw a line under the money-laundering scandals that plagued his predecessor. It’s the latest sign of the new pontiff’s desire to clean up and open up possibly the only institution that has had more scandals than Wall St in recent years. ????And as you might expect from a man who’s spent most of his first two years in the Vatican kicking over the traces, there are some surprising choices in His Holiness’ replacement team – including a counter-terrorism expert from George W. Bush’s White House who once led U.S. efforts to track down and confiscate Saddam Hussein’s illegal millions. ????Juan C. Zarate, now a senior adviser at the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, is one of four people appointed Friday to the board of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (AIF), which was set up by Pope Benedict XVI to clean up the Vatican’s financial activities after a string of scandals. ????The three other new board members are, by the Holy See’s standards, a diverse bunch: they include Maria Bianca Farina, head of the Italian Postal Service’s insurance arm, and Joseph Yuvaraj Pillay, the former head of Singapore’s central bank. Marc Odendall, a former banker who administers and advises philanthropic organisations, completes the line-up. ????Together, they will oversee the work of Rene Bruelhart, a Swiss lawyer who has headed the AIF since 2012. ????“Bruelhart wanted a board he could work with and it seems the pope has come down on his side and sent the old boy network packing,” a Vatican source told Reuters. ????The AIF oversees, among other things, the operations of the Vatican’s bank, the Institute for Works of Religion, which has been at the heart of some of the most serious allegations. One of the bank’s former accountants, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, is currently on trial accused of plotting to help rich friends avoid millions of euros in taxes. |