The Vatican’s financial watchdog organization revealed on Monday that it received 104 suspicious activity reports in 2021, a rise from the previous year.
The Supervisory and Financial Information Authority (ASIF) said in a 35-page annual report released on June 13 that it submitted 21 reports to the Vatican’s Promoter of Justice (prosecutor), the most in the last five years.
The monitoring agency is in charge of financial intelligence, as well as countering money laundering and terrorism financing. It is in charge of the Institute for Religious Works (the IOR or “Vatican bank”).
According to the report, “With regard to financial intelligence activities, in 2021 ASIF’s Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) received 104 reports of suspicious activity, 98 of which from the obliged entity [IOR], 5 from Vatican authorities, and 1 from a non-profit organization. No reports were received that were directly or indirectly linked to the financing of terrorism.”
“ASIF submitted 21 reports to the Office of the Promoter of Justice, the highest number recorded in the last five years; of these, 3 were first reports and 18 were supplemental reports.”
Last year, ASIF reported receiving 89 suspicious activity reports in 2020, 16 of which it sent to the Promoter of Justice for possible prosecution.
It received 95 reports in 2019, compared to 83 in 2018, and 150 in 2017.
According to the 2021 report, the ASIF issued 34 requests for information to foreign financial intelligence units while getting 19 such requests – one fewer than in 2020.
ASIF president Carmelo Barbagallo called 2021 a “year of consolidation” for the agency, which was founded by Pope Benedict XVI in 2010 and was known as the Financial Information Authority (AIF) until December 2020 when it was renamed.
He praised the “favorable outcome” of Moneyval, the Council of Europe’s anti-money laundering monitor, in its 2021 report.
Barbagallo told Vatican News that the Moneyval assessment is “of fundamental importance for the action and financial reputation of the jurisdictions that adhere to it.”
He said “An eventual negative review would have repercussions on the path of transparency undertaken long ago by the Holy See and also risk also complicating financial relationships of institutions like the IOR or APSA with their foreign counterparts”.
“On the other hand, the great work done in previous years, and especially more recently, has prevented that from happening.”
“However, we cannot ‘let our guard down’ in terms of the effectiveness of prevention and enforcement action, because continuous refinement action is imperative that includes frequent instances of verification, also in accordance with international standards.”
René Brülhart and Tommaso Di Ruzza, the former president and director of the AIF, are among ten people on trial at the Vatican for alleged financial misconduct.
Brülhart is accused of misuse of office, while Di Ruzza is accused of both abuse of office and violation of the office’s secret. Both men denied the allegations.