Word: marcinkus
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...Italy's eleventh largest bank, and the apparent suicide in June of its president, Roberto Calvi, Italian authorities tried to serve notice on three of the top officials of the Vatican bank that they were under investigation for possible bank fraud. Among them was American-born Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, 60, the president of the bank, which is officially known as the Institute per le Opere di Religione (I.O.R.), or Institute for Religious Works. Earlier, the Vatican's top banker had served as both a papal bodyguard and aide to Pope Paul VI. The other two bank officers...
...Marcinkus has not yet publicly explained how the transaction was arranged or even why he was involved in the first place. In his only statement on the affair to date, the archbishop said simply, "I have never done anything that can be considered fraud...
...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...
...secretary of the Vatican Bank in 1968 and became its president three years later. Said he at the time: "I have no banking experience, but I think I was chosen because of the organizational ability I showed when it was needed during the Pope's travels." Last October, Marcinkus was named to an additional job as chief administrator of Vatican City. He has been considered a sure bet to be elevated to Cardinal later this year...
Even before the Banco Ambrosiano affair, though, Marcinkus had been touched by financial scandal. In 1973 Italian-American Financier Michele Sindona sold two companies to Calvi for what was considered the greatly inflated price of $100 million. According to Giorgio Ambrosoli, the court-appointed liquidator of the Sindona empire at the time, Sindona paid a $5.6 million commission as part of the deal to "an American bishop and a Milanese banker." Official Italian sources have confirmed that Ambrosoli was refer ring to Marcinkus and Calvi. It is still not clear why the two allegedly received this money...