The Guardian reports:
The head of the Vatican bank has formally been placed under investigation in an inquiry into a suspected violation of Italy's money-laundering laws, judicial sources said today.
At the same time, a judge in Rome ordered a freeze on €23m (£19.5m) held in an account opened by the Vatican bank, the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), at another financial institution in the Italian capital. It was thought to be the first time such action had been authorised against the IOR in Italy.
The Vatican has a long history of withholding co-operation from Italian investigators seeking access to its bank's books. The IOR was involved in a major scandal in 1982 arising from the fraudulent bankruptcy of Banco Ambrosiano, then Italy's largest private bank.
It could, of course, just be failure to make the right declarations.
But if any bank has a duty to comply with anti-money laundering regulation surely it is the Vatican Bank?
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There have been rumours and stories going around for some time now about the Vatican Bank being involved in money laundering. I am not surprised by this report.