Egmont Group lifts suspension
of the Vatican Financial Information Authority
Vatican's Financial Information Authority (AIF) (Vatican Media) |
The President of the Vatican’s Financial Information
Authority, Carmelo Barbagallo, announces the lifting of the suspension placed
on it by the Egmont Group, and says it can now resume its collaboration with
its peers in other countries.
In a statement released on Thursday, the President of the
Vatican's Financial Information Authority announced that a previous suspension
of its participation in the Egmont Group, had been lifted:
“I am pleased," President Barbagallo said in his
statement, "to announce that, last night, the President of the Egmont
Group, Mr Mariano Federici, decided to revoke the decision taken on 13 November
2019 to suspend the Financial Information Authority (AIF) from the
international information circuit, Egmont Secure Web."
Barbagallo called this news "a very important
step" and expresses "the confirmed trust of the Egmont Group in the
financial information system of the Vatican.”
Clear Rules
“This decision follows the explanations provided by AIF to
Egmont concerning the extraordinary nature of the facts that gave rise to the
suspension and AIF’s assurances that the information received from the Egmont
circuit will be treated in a manner that is consistent with the rules that
apply to that circuit, partly thanks to the signing of a Memorandum of
Understanding with the Promoter of Justice.”
Transparency and cooperation
AIF’s president went on to say, “the decision to revoke the
suspension makes it possible for AIF to resume its collaboration with foreign
financial intelligence units in full transparency and in the spirit of active
cooperation.”
AIF's affiliation with Egmont
In July of 2013, the Vatican’s Financial Information
Authority was admitted into the Egmont Group, an international network of 164
Financial Intelligence Units present in 152 countries and jurisdictions. It
provides for the exchange of best practices for the international collaboration
and exchange of information. The Egmont Group had suspended the Vatican’s
Financial Information Authority following the 1 October search of AIF’s Vatican
offices by the Vatican Gendarmeria on the orders of the Promoter of Justice who
were investigating several Vatican employees. At that time, the Egmont Group
was of the opinion that such an event did not guarantee the security necessary
for communication between AIF and other Financial Intelligence Units. It
therefore suspended AIF. As of today, AIF’s participation in the Egmont Group
has been reinstated.
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