24 May 2012 Last updated at 15:16 ET
Source: BBC News
Vatican Bank chief Tedeschi dismissed
Mr Tedeschi is under investigation for suspected money-laundering
The director of the Vatican Bank, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, has been removed from his post for dereliction of duty, the Vatican says.
The bank’s board of directors unanimously passed a no-confidence vote in Mr Tedeschi, a statement said.
It said he had failed “to carry out duties of primary importance”, but it did not elaborate.
In 2010 Italian police launched an investigation against Mr Tedeschi as part of a money-laundering inquiry.
Members of the board believed Mr Tedeschi’s dismissal was needed to “maintain the vitality of the bank”, the Vatican statement said.
The board will now look for a new director to restore relations with the international financial community, “based on mutual respect for accepted international banking standards”.
Mr Tedeschi declined to comment on his dismissal. He told journalists: “I’d rather say nothing, otherwise I’d say ugly things.”
The Vatican Bank, known officially as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), was created during World War II to administer accounts held by religious orders, cardinals, bishops and priests.
It lost £250m in a scandal involving the collapse of one of Italy’s biggest private banks – the Banco Ambrosiano – in 1982, with which it had close ties.
‘Misunderstanding’
Read more:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-18200083
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