Even as recent as 2012 that the bank of the Vatican was under attack. The Italian prosecutors suspected the bank of money laundering from Sicilian Mafia bosses.
The Institute for Religious Works refuses to release details of a priest's bank account suspected of money laundering and fraud.
Ninni Treppiedi was dismissed as a priest when the Italian prosecutor's office was tipped over money last spring from the parish to the mafia. It involved millions of euros that were transferred between 2007 and 2009.
The prosecution suspects Treppiedi of having been involved in money laundering that was overlooked by Mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro, also known as the 'Diabolik'. He has been a fugitive since 1993. According to reports, the former parish of Treppiedi in Aclamo near Trapani is the richest ecclesial community in the Sicilian mafia.
The scandal came into the news for the first time two weeks after the dismissal of the Vatican bank chief, Ettore Gotti Tedeschi. Tedeschi would have leaked documents and did not do his job well. There is already an investigation into him for alleged money laundering.
It is speculated that Tedeschi was sent away because he was aware of the ties between the Vatican and the mafia and the names and details of bank accounts passed on to the police.