Word: ambrosiano
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Dates: during 1982-1982
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...scandal began to unfold in May, when a special audit at the Banco Ambrosiano uncovered $1.4 billion in questionable loans that had been made to paper corporations based in Panama. The companies, it appears, were controlled by Roberto Calvi, the bank's president...
Just after the Banco Ambrosiano audit was completed last month, Calvi fled to England. Several days later, his body was found suspended by a rope from Blackfriars Bridge over the Thames River. In the pockets of his expensive gray suit was $20,000 in foreign currencies. Italians quickly noted the symbolism of the location: members of the P2 Lodge dress in black and call one another friar...
...investigators unraveled Calvi's tangled financial affairs, they kept running across the name of Archbishop Marcinkus. The Vatican Bank has long owned 1.58% of the Banco Ambrosiano, but now there is suspicion that it actually holds much more. In addition, Marcinkus until very recently had sat on the board of the bank's Nassau-based subsidiary, Banco Ambrosiano Overseas Ltd., which helped arrange the questionable overseas loans...
...most damaging of the disclosures were documents that directly implicated Marcinkus in the loan scheme. The archbishop had signed "letters of patronage" for the dozen Panamanian ghost companies that received the loan money from the Banco Ambrosiano. The letters stated that the companies were controlled by the Vatican Bank and were apparently intended to serve as references or guarantees for the lender. Investigators are not sure at this point where the $1.4 billion went or what it was used for. It is believed that some of the money, perhaps as much as 10%, was used to buy stock in Banco...
...weeks ago, three officials appointed by the Bank of Italy to take over Banco Ambrosiano's affairs after Calvi's death visited Marcinkus at his Vatican Bank headquarters. The archbishop told them that he had only done what Calvi had requested. He then showed the officials out the door, saying that he was not required to answer questions by Italian authorities, who have no jurisdiction over the bank because it is located in Vatican City...