Vatican brings in outside firm to investigate financial office

16 Oct, 2013: The Vatican has called in an outside company to investigate a department that manages its real estate holdings and financial and stock portfolios following accusations of corruption. A committee of cardinals took the decision to look into the books and activities of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA) as the Vatican tries to clean up the image of its bank.
APSA, which has two divisions, manages the Vatican's real estate holdings in Rome and elsewhere in Italy, pays the salaries of Vatican employees, and acts as a purchasing office and human resources department. It also manages the Vatican's
financial and stock portfolio.
A Vatican statement said the Promontory Financial Group would carry out a due diligence procedure of both sections, looking into its financial and economic activities and its management procedures. The same company is helping the Vatican bank comb through its accounts in order to meet international financial standards
and eliminate those which could be used for money laundering.
The aim of the procedure, believed to be the first time an outside company has looked into APSA's books, was "to deepen the checks into the financial and management situation at APSA," a statement said.