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By Joshua McElwee
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Reports of suspicious financial activity in the Vatican fell by a third in 2024, an internal watchdog report said on Wednesday, though 79 reports were still made and two bank accounts holding a combined 2.12 million euros ($2.34 million) were frozen.
The Vatican's Financial Supervision and Information Authority primarily oversees the Institute for the Works of Religion, a financial entity commonly referred to as the Vatican Bank.
The reputation of the bank, which administers funds for many international Catholic religious orders and institutions, had been tarnished in the past by cases of corruption, tax evasion and embezzlement.
The decrease in suspicious activity reports was a sign that the Vatican "has maintained a high standard in its action of preventing and countering money laundering during 2024", Carmelo Barbagallo, the authority's president, said in a new annual report.
Eleven of the 79 reported cases were referred to Vatican authorities for possible prosecution, the report said, adding that so far there had been no indictments.
Beyond the two frozen accounts, three transactions totalling 1.06 million euros were also suspended, the report said.
The late Pope Benedict XVI initiated several changes at the Vatican Bank and at other Vatican financial institutions, which have been continued by Pope Francis.
The European financial watchdog Moneyval last issued a report about the Vatican's financial supervision in May 2024, which said the Vatican had improved its international banking and financial compliance measures.
Francis also changed Vatican law so that bishops and cardinals accused of financial mishandling would be judged by a lay court that hears criminal cases and not by a panel of prelates.
The Vatican has since prosecuted and convicted a senior cleric, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, for misappropriation of funds in a case centred around the purchase of a high-end building in central London.
Becciu denies wrongdoing and remains free pending an appeal.
($1 = 0.9069 euros)
(Reporting by Joshua McElwee; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Alex Richardson)
