Ernst von Freyberg, a lawyer from a
well-known German aristocratic family, is the new head of the
Institute for Religious Works (IOR), the Vatican's bank, it was
announced Friday.
Introducing greater transparency is expected to be high on the
list of priorities for the new president of the IOR, the 70-year
history of which has been tarred by a long line of scandals.
These have included allegations of fraud, money laundering and
even the mysterious disappearance, three decades ago, of a teenage
girl in Rome.
The 54-year-old von Freyberg, who uses the title baron, was
appointed by the five cardinals who oversee the bank after a
selection process overseen by Spencer Stuart, an international
head-hunting firm the Vatican had turned to for help with filling the
vacancy.
The top position at IOR had been vacant since May, when Italian
banker Ettore Gotti Tedeschi was abruptly dismissed by the bank's lay
supervisors in circumstances that have never been fully explained.
The Vatican said that von Freyberg - founder of Daiwa Corportare
Advisory GmbH, a German financial consulting firm which he led until
last year - has "vast experience of financial matters and the
financial regulatory process."
Von Freyberg is also a member of the 900-year-old Catholic Order
of the Knights of Malta and organizes German pilgrimages to the
Catholic shrine of Lourdes in France.
Based in Frankfurt, von Freyberg will be in Rome three days a week
to follow IOR business, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi
said. He will retain the chairmanship of the Blohm+Voss shipyards, a
firm that supplied warships and airplanes to Germany's Nazi regime.
After World War II, the company continued working on military
contracts, although its main focus is now on civilian shipbuilding
and repair. It is currently part of a consortium building four
frigates for the German navy.
Batting away questions about the connection, Lombardi said it was
"dishonest" to paint von Freyberg "as a warmonger" and insisted that
he was "an absolutely apt person" to lead IOR, who had been chosen
"at the end of a very careful process" of vetting.
Pope Benedict XVI "closely followed" the deliberations, knows von
Freyberg's family and "has expressed his full consent" to the
nomination, but "did not intervene in any way" to influence the
decision, the spokesman said.
Italian media have speculated that Benedict - who is due to resign
on February 28 - wanted a new head to be installed at the IOR before
a new pope is elected, in order to influence the future course of the
Vatican bank.
The Vatican is trying to get on a "white list" of states
fulfilling international standards of financial transparency set by
the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The push came after Italian magistrates started investigating the
IOR in 2010, citing possible violations of anti-money laundering
norms. The Vatican denies all wrongdoing.
Last year, inspectors from the Moneyval committee of the Council
of Europe said the Vatican had come a long way on financial
transparency, but still only met nine out of 16 international core
standards on the issue.
Furthermore, the Bank of Italy last month blocked credit and debit
card payments in the Vatican because of lack of transparency
concerns. The blockage was circumvented this week through a deal with
a Swiss card payments firm.
Lombardi said there was a "very clear determination" to implement
all corrective actions suggested by Moneyval. "The new president of
IOR is aware of this."
