(Vatican Radio) Following the presentation on Monday of MONEYVAL’s Progress Report
on the Holy See’s financial reform efforts, Vatican Radio’s Mario Galgano spoke with
René Bruelhart, the director of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (AIF).
Mr Brülhart said the adoption of the Progress Report “is a clear indication that the
international community takes note of the progress the Vatican has made, and confirms
that the Holy See is on the right track.”
Listen:
Below,
please find the complete text of Mario Galgano’s interview with AIF Director René
Brülhart:
MONEYVAL has presented the second report about money laundering
Can you just say if the Vatican is ok or not?
Today the progress report
of the Holy See has been fully adopted by the MONEYVAL Plenary, so this is a clear
indication that the international community takes note of the progress the Vatican
has made, and confirms that the Holy See is on the right track.
Can you
say if there are some concrete facts that MONEYVAL has underlined about, for example,
what you have to do better?
Well there’s always room for improvement, but
as you will see, MONEYVAL is, most probably on Thursday, going to publish this progress
report in great detail. The work which has been done by the Holy See will be elaborated
on. Just to stress one or two issues . . . on the side of the supervisory work, we
will take additional measures where there is definitely some kind of room for improvement.
But then also the whole implementation process of the legal framework, and the institutional
framework, which has been introduced over the last weeks and months. I think this
is going to be one additional key focus which we will not only consider but which
we will take care of in a very, very active manner.
And has MONEYVAL spoken
about the Vatican Bank, the IOR?
Well, whether the Ior is a bank is a different
question. But the process of MONEYVAL never looks into single financial institutions.
It looks much more into the functionality of the legal framework to fight money laundering
and terrorism financing and if this kind of system works effectively. However, on
a side phrase, it has been noted that the progress of the work the IOR is currently
carrying out, note has been taken in a very positive way.
So what are the
next steps for the AIF where you work?
We have received a new statute
by the Motu Proprio of November 15 of Pope Francis which clearly establishes two key
functions. One is a financial intelligence unit, and the other one is a supervisory
authority, including prudential supervision. Believe me, trust me, there is work in
front of us with the whole implementation, not only of this new structure, but even
more of the work to fight, in proactive manner, potential financial crimes within
the Vatican.