Italian police raid home of ex-Vatican bank boss
AFP PHOTO/ Tiziana Fabi / FILE
Head of the Vatican bank Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, who was forced to resign from his post on May 24, 2012 "for failing to carry out duties of primary importance," the Holy See said in a statement.
ROME, Tuesday
Italian police have raided the home and office of the former head of the Vatican bank as part of an inquiry into alleged corruption at aerospace and defence giant Finmeccanica, Italian media report.
Investigators were trying to determine Ettore Gotti Tedeschi’s knowledge of Finmeccanica operations because of his friendship with the company’s current chief executive Giuseppe Orsi, ANSA news agency said, citing prosecutors.
Mr Gotti Tedeschi is not officially under investigation and neither is the Vatican bank, which is the subject of a separate money laundering inquiry.
The reports said that police had raided the veteran banker’s home in Piacenza in northern Italy and one of his offices in Milan.
La Repubblica said the raids ordered by the Naples prosecutor’s office were “aimed at clarifying suspected instances of international corruption” including bribes allegedly paid by Finmeccanica to win international contracts.
Mr Gotti Tedeschi was sacked last month from his post as the head of the Institute for Religious Works, better known by its Italian acronym as IOR, following a clash with the Vatican Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone.
Finmeccanica has been hit by a series of corruption investigations since 2010 which forced out its former chief executive Pier Francesco Guarguaglini.
