POPE FRANCI’S NEW ANTI-CORRUPTION SQUEEZE IN THE VATICAN
Suspects of criminal affiliations, trustees, residents of tax havens or jurisdiction at high risk of recycling and those who have violated environmental and social security standards. Centralized controls for contracts over 150 thousand euros. Deloitte strategic advisor for the Jubilee
by Maria Antonietta Calabrò
Città del Vaticano, 16 gennaio 2024
Year after year, Pope Francis' fight against corruption continues. With two Apostolic Letters in the form of Motu proprio that is, having the value of law. The first signed “at San Pietro” on November 27, 2023. The second from the Vatican on January 16, 2024. They will both come into effect January 17,2024. These are new rules in economic matters: in particular for relations with external economic entities (entrepreneurs, financiers, etc.) to harmonize the previous provisions with the new Apostolic Constitution 'Praedicate Evangelium' and as expressly written, 'also evaluated the experience gained in recent years'. Starting with what emerged in the investigation of the process for the purchase of the Palace of London.
Well, in the 37 folders of the first Motu Proprio, Pope Francis established that an economic operator “may be excluded”, from participating in tenders, calls, offers of services and services, in general securities and real estate affairs, if he has not complied with the obligations relating to “the payment of social security and welfare contributions or other provisions in favor of workers according to the legislation of the country in which he is established” or if he has committed “serious violations of the obligations relating to the payment of taxes "or if he has failed to comply with the obligations regarding the protection of health and safety of the workers, according to the applicable law or collective agreements. He will also be excluded if he has committed serious breaches of the environmental obligations that have been definitively established. But it will also be excluded - and this is a big news - if the economic entity constituted or participated, directly or indirectly, by fiduciary companies or other forms of fiduciary heading that do not allow the actual beneficiary to be identified, except in the case in which evidence of the identity of the beneficiary is given; if it is resident or established in States or territories having privileged tax regimes as provided by international institutions, as defined by the Secretariat for the Economy, or are participated directly or indirectly by resident subjects or established in the aforementioned States or territories; if, in the hypothesis of entities quoted, it is not subject to forms of supervision of an economic and financial nature, in the countries in which they are established. Among the news are those concerning companies or people linked to criminal organizations. To be excluded from tenders, it is sufficient that there is a "well-founded suspicion of affiliation, even external, with criminal organizations, of which we have knowledge through the supervisory and control bodies, or investigations are pending for crimes of money laundering and self-laundering, corruption, fraud, terrorism and on the financing and exploitation of people". And if the entrepreneur is resident or established in jurisdictions at high risk of money laundering, terrorist financing and/or proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, as identified by the Financial Supervision and Information Authority in the performance of its institutional activity.
In addition, an important word is introduced by the Motu proprio: 'competition'. It is therefore envisaged that an economic operator can be excluded, 'if there is a danger of distortion of competition'. Controls at the Secretariat of the Economy of all contracts over 150 thousand euros will be centralized.
Meanwhile, yesterday, Deloitte CEO Fabio Pompei announced that Deloitte will be the Vatican's strategic advisor for the Jubilee, “so we will make our expertise available for this historic event.”
Published January 16, 2024 Huffpost.it
