The Moneyval’s Report on the Holy See and Vatican City State, published on Wednesday, comes in response to a request, made by the Holy See in February 2011, for its control system and safeguards against criminal activity in the economic and financial sphere, to be evaluated according to the procedures of the organization set up by the Council of Europe for this purpose.
The Report recognises that the Holy See “has come a long way in a very short period of time” and is headed in the right direction. The Holy See has “cooperated closely with the evaluators and reacted quickly to remedy a number of deficiencies”. In keeping with its technical nature and purpose, the Report provides detailed indications of areas that still need to be improved upon in order to develop a system of control that is fully efficient. It is important to continue along the road already undertaken with commitment and perseverance.
THE VATICAN’S REACTION
“For the Holy See, this process is first and foremost a moral rather than a technical commitment.” These were the words of Msgr. Ettore Balestrero, the Undersecretary for Relations with States, commenting on the Moneyval Report on the Hoy See. Moneyval’s Report on the Holy See and Vatican City State was published on Wednesday.
Monsignor Balestrero said that, even before the evaluation, the Holy See always had “a clear determination to fight money laundering and terrorist financing, as well as a legal system that already had several of the elements necessary to tackle ML/FT problems.”
Noting that the evaluators had found that the current system of the Holy See and of Vatican City State is “largely compliant with international standards,” Msgr. Balestrero said: “We are aware that, like other jurisdictions, some areas of the Vatican’s systems to fight money laundering and the financing of terrorism still need to improve.” He continued: “After adoption of the present law, the Holy See has continued to improve its anti-money- laundering system. Above all, the Holy See and the Vatican Authorities have moved from shorter-term solutions to the creation of long term, sustainable and effective solutions; and will continue to do.”
In conclusion, Msgr. Balestrero said “the report released today is not the end, but is rather an important passage of our continuing efforts to marry moral commitments to technical excellence. We have taken a definitive step to lay the foundations to a structure – a house if you will – that is a robust and sustainable system to combat money laundering and the financing of terrorism. Now it is our wish to fully construct a building that effectively shows the Holy See’s and Vatican City State’s desire to be a reliable partner in the international community.”