A senior Italian cleric has been arrested in connection with an inquiry into a Vatican bank scandal over allegations of corruption and fraud. Monsignor Nunzio Scarano works in the Vatican's financial administration. A secret service agent and a financial broker have also been arrested. They are suspected of trying to move 20m euros ($26m; £17m) illegally. Pope Francis ordered an unprecedented internal investigation into the bank's affairs in the wake of recent scandals. Monsignor Scarano, 61, worked for years as a senior accountant for a Vatican department known as Apsa (the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See). He was suspended from that position "about a month ago, after his superiors learnt about an investigation into his activities", Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said. Monsignor Scarano has been under investigation by Italian police for a series of suspicious transactions involving the recycling through the Vatican bank of a series of cheques described as church donations. Nunzio Scarano is a priest from Salerno in southern Italy, who is called "monsignor" in recognition of his seniority at the Vatican. He was arrested along with two other men suspected of plotting to move 20m euros illegally from Switzerland to Italy. One, Giovanni Maria Zito, is described as an Italian secret service agent, and the other, Giovanni Carenzio, a financial broker. Secretive bank Earlier this month, the Pope named a trusted cleric to oversee the management of the bank, which has been beset by allegations of money laundering. Officially known as the Institute for the Works of Religion (IOR), the bank is one of the world's most secretive. It has 114 employees and 5.4bn euros of assets. Pope Francis has given the commission carte blanche, bypassing normal secrecy rules, to try to get to the bottom of scandals which have plagued the bank for decades. Traditionally, the Vatican Bank has refused to co-operate with Italian authorities investigating financial crime on the grounds of the sovereign independence of the Vatican city state, the BBC's David Willey reports from Rome. But Pope Francis has shown that he is now determined to get to the bottom of long-standing allegations of corruption and money laundering involving the bank, our correspondent adds. The Institute for the Works of Religion was a major shareholder in the Banco Ambrosiano, a big Italian bank which collapsed in 1982 with losses of more than $3bn. Its chairman, Roberto Calvi, was found hanging from Blackfriars Bridge in London - in a murder disguised as a suicide. Mr Calvi had close relations with the Vatican.
Does anyone else here eat cheese tatties? What kind of cheese do you use? I make it with a nice, strong cheddar. Is cheese tatties a teuchter dish?
In mash I would suspect you mean. And naw, I hivny. I put butter or creme freche(sp) in ma mash. Spring onions too, dependant upon what the mash is acommpanying on the plate. Ya ****in weirdo.
Used to have it as a kid - my mum called it cheese and potato pie and put onions in it and topped it off with a tomato. Always had it on Ash Wenesday and Good friday unsurprisingly! Wouldnlt eat it now though - cauliflower or leek cheese is brilliant though. On Medro's topic i'm not sure, apart from the obvious, what the big deal is really - a bank may have been badly run and corrupt and the wrongdoers are being brought to account. No diffferent to the rest of the world then really.
A secretive church bank that looks like it has been money laundering millions of Euros, not quite the same is it.
I am very partial to the French take on it Classic Bistro Style Gratin Dauphinoise - French Gratin Potatoes please log in to view this image Ingredients: Servings: 4-6 Units: US | Metric 3 lbs waxy potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced (such as Desiree, Golden Wonder, Maris Piper, Idaho or King Edward) 6 ounces gruyere cheese, grated 3/4 pint double cream salt fresh ground black pepper 2 -4 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 2 sprigs fresh thyme 1 ounce butter cheese, for topping (optional)
It's bad - of course it is - but probably no worse than certain banks fiddling the interest rates or operating dodgy insurance schemes or, indeed, harbouring the ill gotten gains of many criminals. Intersting that you put up a thread about the vatican bank but not Barclays when they were in the eye of the storm............
