| Subject: | Re: Letter regarding AIF Vatican |
|---|---|
| Date: | Wed, 22 Jan 2020 09:53:02 -0500 |
| From: | ESecretariat <secretariat@egmont.org> |
| To: |
Letter on behalf of the Egmont Group Chair – Mr. Mariano Federici
Dear Heads of FIU,
I hope your 2020 is off to a good start!
With the current letter, I would like to inform you that within the period for out-of-session approval of the MEMO regarding the Access of the Autorita Informazione Finanziaria (AIF) of the Holy See / Vatican State to the Egmont Secure Web (ESW), we did not receive any objections. Therefore, the MEMO is deemed as being endorsed by you together with all recommendations included there.
As per your decision, AIF Vatican will be immediately reconnected to ESW. In my position as Chair, I will inform AIF Vatican about all decisions that were endorsed with the above-mentioned MEMO. I will also inform the EC Sub-Group about your decision that they should continue their communication with AIF Holy See / Vatican State in order to obtain further details on the characteristics of the exceptional measure that OPJ took in regard to this authority.
I would like to thank you for your continuous support regarding this case.
Kind regards,
Mariano FEDERICI – Chair of Egmont Group
Dear HoFIU,
We hope your 2020 is off to a good start!
We would like to bring a MEMO concerning the case of AIF Vatican to your attention.
As you may recall, in a letter dated 4 October 2019, the former President of the AIF informed EG that on 1 October 2019 the Gendarmerie of the Vatican City State raided AIF’s premises in relation to a judicial proceeding coordinated by the Vatican Promoter of Justice (who performs the role of prosecutor). During the raid, documents and electronic devices from the office of the Director of the AIF were seized and the Director was suspended until the end of April 2020.
Based on this communication, the Egmont Committee tasked an EC Sub-Group to formally engage with the AIF and gain a better understanding of the state of events. The EC examined the AIF case outlined by its authority under Section 6.3-B-5 of the Charter – “To consider matters affecting the Egmont Group, including compliance with this Charter and the Principles, and make recommendations to the HoFIU”. Based on this, the Sub-Group forwarded a set of questions to the President of AIF. In his response, the President of AIF confirmed that on 1 October 2019 the Corps of the Gendarmerie, while executing a decree issued by the Vatican Promoter of Justice, seized confidential documents and electronic materials that included information provided by other FIUs.
After a careful review, the Sub-Group concluded that there are strong doubts relating to the grounds under which the seizure was conducted. There are also doubts concerning which information from other FIUs has been compromised, the status of the information and what the safeguards in place to assure our membership that this will not happen again.
At the recommendation of the Sub-Group, the EG Chair, in consultation with the EC, used emergency powers (Charter Section 6.2 B) and suspended AIF’s access to ESW. This was later confirmed by the HoFIU (November 20th, 2019).
Subsequently, the EC Sub-Group engaged with the AIF in order to assess a further recommendation to re-connect AIF to the ESW, once the following issues are duly clarified:
- The grounds for the seizure of the AIF’s information by the Vatican Promoter of Justice.
- What information provided by other FIUs has been seized by the Vatican Promoter of Justice and what is the status of this information.
- What measures have been implemented by the AIF in order to prevent the seizure of additional information.
On December 13th, 2019, the acting director of AIF Vatican provided the EG Chair with the requested information. This information was duly analysed and considered by the EC Sub-Group and now serves as basis for the attached MEMO. One of the main documents presented to the attention of the EC Sub-Group was an MoU between AIF Vatican and The Office of the Promoter of Justice (please see attached).
The content of the MEMO was considered and approved by the EC (on January 10th, 2020).
Based on aforementioned, you are kindly asked to endorse the content and all recommendations included in the MEMO by replying to this letter by Tuesday, January 21st, 2020. Replies after this timeframe will be considered as tacit approval. The main recommended action is, based on the information and safeguards provided by AIF Vatican, to re-connect AIF to the ESW.
Thank you very much for your cooperation.
Kind regards,
Egmont Group Secretariat