The inquiry into Ettore Gotti Tedeschi has surprised the Vatican The head of the Vatican Bank has been put under investigation as part of a money-laundering inquiry, police sources in Rome say.
Ettore Gotti Tedeschi and another senior official were put under investigation after two suspicious transactions were reported to police.
Some 23m euros ($30m; £19m) was also seized from the bank’s accounts with another institution.
The Vatican said it was “perplexed” by the claims.
The bank, known officially as the Institute for Religious Works, manages accounts for Roman Catholic orders.
It was last mired in scandal in 1982 when its governor Archbishop Paul Marcinkus was indicted over his involvement with the $3.5bn (£2.25bn) collapse of what was then Italy’s largest private bank, Banco Ambrosiano.
Although he was never arrested, the fallout from that scandal took a darker turn when two of its top executives, including its chairman, Roberto Calvi, were murdered.
Calvi, known as God’s Banker because of his close ties to the Vatican, was found hanged under Blackfriars Bridge in London.
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