Vatican creates financial watchdog to fight crime

THE Vatican has created a financial watchdog agency and issued new laws to try to comply with rules to fight money-laundering and terrorist financing.

The decrees, which go into effect on April 1, were passed as the Vatican’s own bank remains implicated in a money-laundering investigation that resulted in €23 million being seized and its top two officials placed under investigation.

Pope Benedict XVI signed the documents yesterday, saying the Vatican wanted to join other countries in cracking down on legal loopholes that have allowed criminals to exploit the financial sector.