Team Obama Puts Vatican On Money-Laundering List
It seems like it was just yesterday that Barack Obama was posing with Pope Benedict XVI for a photo-op and lying about how he was going to reduce abortions.
President Barack Obama, first lady Michelle Obama and Pope Benedict XVI stand for a photo with members of the United States delegation, Friday, July 10, 2009, at the Vatican. (AP)
Today the Obama Administration put the Vatican on a money-laundering watch list.
Reuters reported:
The Vatican has for the first time appeared on the State Department’s list of money-laundering centers but the tiny city-state is not rated as a high-risk country.
The 2012 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report was made public on Wednesday and Washington’s list of 190 countries classifies them in three categories: of primary concern, of concern and monitored.
The Vatican is in the second category, grouped with 67 other nations including Poland, Egypt, Ireland, Hungary and Chile.
It was added to the list because it was considered vulnerable to money-laundering and had recently established programs to prevent it, a State Department official said.
“To be considered a jurisdiction of concern merely indicates that there is a vulnerability to a financial system by money launderers. With the large volumes of international currency that goes through the Holy See, it is a system that makes it vulnerable as a potential money-laundering center,” Susan Pittman of the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, told Reuters.
Last year, the Vatican adapted internal laws to comply with international standards on financial crime.
Hat Tip Ed
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