Vatican Bank

[Magda Hassan]

Pope Fires Entire Board of Vatican's Financial Watchdog

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[TD="align: left"]June 6, 2014

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By Robert Wenzel

Pope Francis has sacked the five-man board of the Vatican's financial watchdog - all Italians.

The Vatican said the Pope named four new members, from Switzerland, Singapore, the United States and Italy, to replace them on the board of the Financial Information Authority, the Holy See's internal regulatory office.

The Pope replaced the board members with what appears to be a group of very powerful behind the scenes global one-world establishment operators.

Among them are Swiss lawyer named Renè Bruelhart, who previously led a European regulatory body called the Egmont Group. Egmont, essentially, is designed to prevent financial cross-border financial transactions to be hidden from the prying eyes of governments. Egmont "financial intelligence units" are national centers to collect information on suspicious or unusual financial activity from the financial industry and other entities or professions required to report "suspicious" transactions.

From Egmont's web site:

The goal of the Egmont Group is to provide a forum for FIUs around the world to improve cooperation in the fight against money laundering and the financing of terrorism and to foster the implementation of domestic programs in this field. This support includes:

Expanding and systematizing international cooperation in the reciprocal exchange of information;
Increasing the effectiveness of FIUs by offering training and promoting personnel exchanges to improve the expertise and capabilities of personnel employed by FIUs;
Fostering better and secure communication among FIUs through the application of technology, such as the Egmont Secure Web (ESW);
Fostering increased coordination and support among the operational divisions of member FIUs;
Promoting the operational autonomy of FIUs; and
Promoting the establishment of FIUs in conjunction with jurisdictions with an AML/CFT program in place, or in areas with a program in the early stages of development.

Juan C. Zarate is also a replacement member named by the Pope. Zarate is a visiting lecturer at Harvard Law School and a senior advisor to the university's Center for Strategic and International Studies. From 2005 to 2009, Zarate served as deputy National Security Advisor with responsibility for counter-terrorism strategy.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies has clear problems with understanding George Washington's advice that the US should not meddle in the affairs of other nations. From their web site:

Since 1962, CSIS has been dedicated to finding ways to sustain American prominence and prosperity as a force for good in the world.

CSIS trustees include Sam Nunn, Zbigniew K. Brzezinski, William S. Cohen, Carla A. Hills, Henry Kissinger and Brent Scowcroft. Nuff said.

Another replacement member is Marc Odendall who has worked for the Matuschka Group, Munich, from 1983 to 1984, for JPMorgan, Paris, from 1984 to 1989 and for CSFB, Paris, from 1990 to 1993, before joining Merrill Lynch, Paris, in 1994 where he worked until he joined Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, Paris and London, in 1996. From 1998 to 2001, Mr. Odendall worked with CSFB, London.

The final replacement member is Joseph Yuvaraj Pillay, who served as the Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation from 1985 to 1989. Mr. Pillay held a variety of positions in the government of Singapore from 1961 to 1995, rising to permanent secretary in 1972. He served as the Chairman of Council on Corporate Disclosure and Governance from 2002 to 2007.

Pillay also served, in a non-executive capacity, as Chairman of the board of several government-linked companies, including: Singapore Airlines Ltd from 1972 to 1996, Temasek Holdings (Private) Limited from 1974 to 1986, Development Bank of Singapore Ltd from 1979 to 1984, and Singapore Technologies Holdings (Private) Limited from 1991 to 1994. He serves as Honorary Director of Securities Investors Association (Singapore). He has been a Director of Tiger Airways Australia Pty Ltd. since July 8, 2013., member of the Investment Committee of the United Nations Pension Fund, and Chairman of Commonwealth Africa Investments Limited. He serves as Member of Investment Committee of the United Nations Pension Fund, Asia-Europe Foundation and Financial Sector Development Fund Advisory Committee of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

I am not sure what the Pope is up to but, I wouldn't let these characters near my bank accounts.

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Robert Wenzel is Editor & Publisher of EconomicPolicyJournal.com and author of The Fed Flunks: My Speech at the New York Federal Reserve Bank.