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European Ombudsman
21,171201,2/LP s201.3-1,82793

Emily O'Reilly
European Ombudsman

Dr Jonathan LEVY Brimstone & Co. Attorneys & Solicitors 1.629 K Street NW Suite 300 Washington DC 20006 ETATS UNIS

chambers@brimstoneandcompany.com Strasbourg,
24110 1201'3

Decision of the European ombudsman closing her inquiry into complaint 2117 lzOL2lLP against the Commission
Dear Dr LevY,

on22October20L2,yousubmittedacomplainttotheEuropean to reply Ombudsman concerning the European Commission's alleged failure In that . 2012. and take appropriate u"iion in relition to your letter of 28 May looted assets letter and ih".or."rpondence that preceded it, you alleged that from Holocaust victims during the Ustasha genocide campaign (1941"1'945)' ("IOR"), and wer" deporited in the VaticaJs "lstituto per le Opere di Religione" denominated of euro used recently by the vatican authorities for the minting
coins. European Based on the fact that the Monetary Agreement between the the incorporates "Monetiry Agreement")r Union and the Vatican City State (the

provisionsofDirective200sl60lEC2onmoneylaundering/.y-ourequestedthe bommission to take action against the Vatican's Autoritd di lnformazione Finanziaria(''AIF''),thecompetentVaticanauthoritysetup.tocombatmoney IOR' laundering, in relation to potential money laundering by the

Iunderstoodthatyouwishedtomakethefollowingallegationsand
claims.

Allegations:
(1)TheEuropeanCommissionfailedtoreplyandtotakeappropriateactioninrelation to your letter of 28 MaY 20L2'

'2 oJ 2o1o c28,

p. 13 of the Council of 26 October 2005 on the Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing' prevention of the use ot tneiinancial system for the OJ 2005 L 309, P. 15
1 avenue du President Robert Schuman

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c5 30403
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+ 33 (0)3 8a 17 23 13 + 33 (0)3 a8 17 90 62

www.ombudsman.europa.eu
eo@ombudsman.euroPa.eu

- 670O1 Strasbourg Cedex

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(2) The Commission behaaed in an arbitrary and capricious manner in the treatment it gaae to Holocaust suraiaors and theirs organisations and erred in faaour of the Vatican City State by not taking appropriate action.

Claims:
(1) The Commission should reply to your letter of 28 May 20L2. (2) The Commission should assist you in holding the Autoriti die lnformazione Finanzaria (AIF) and the Istituto per Ie Opere di Religione ( IOR) to the terms of the Monetary Agreement concluded between the European Union and the Vatican City State which incorporates the unti money laundering proaisions of Directiae 200Sl60lEC with regard to the complaint against the IOR by the Holocaust suraiaors and organisations.

on 21 November 20L2, the ombudsman opened an inquiry into the first allegation and related claim and informed you that a decision on how to deal with the second allegation and related claim would be taken once the Commission had replied to your letter of 28 May 2072 and once your observations on this reply had been received.
commission transmitted to the ombudsman a copy of the reply to your letter of 28 May 201.2, that it had sent to you on that

on

11 ]anuary 2013, the

same day.

In its reply, the Commission informed you that the_qrrestion of the application of the rules of the Monetary Agreement to the IOR had been biought to the attention of the Vatican City State authorities during the Joint Comirittee meeting on the application of the Monetary Agreement, held in Rome on 20 Nove mbet 201,2, ind that that issue was still under discussion'
The Commission also noted that "as stated repeatedly, [it] does not see any direct legal link between the application of the 2009 Monetary Agreement between the Europein Llnion and the Vatican City State on the one hand, and the eaents in the Ilstasha genocidal campaign in the lidependent State of Croatia bettaeen 1941 and in the 1945, an\ a possible aipoiit of gold and assets deriaing from the campaign take to you invited also other,,.It vatican nan* ilonl in 1g46 oid rczq, on the reply to could who AIF the of Director direct contact with the newly appointed other gold and of IOR in the deposit your requests concerning th! pbssible
assets derived from Holocaust

victims'

It thus appears that the Commission took into consideration the issues you had raised ir, yorrr letter of 2g May 2012, and brought them to the attention

is the of the competent authorities foreseen Ly the Monetary Agreement, that wh-ether question the that you informed also Joint Committee. The Commission From the said Monetary Agreement applies to the IOR is still under discussion' is an this that understand 201,3,I aJune of us to your most recent letier important issue for you since if the IOR is found to fall under the sole or ioint jur'isdiction of the vatican City state, then the Commission would, in your vie*, have the means to apply the money laundering provisions of Directive 2005l60lEC against the IOR'

joint However, regardless of whether the IoR comes within the sole or not does Commission jurisdiction of the Vitican City State, it- is clear that the in and State, City Vatican ,huru yo.r, views as to the poiential liability of the

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particular of the AIF, for potentially failing to take action against the IOR on the basis of Directive 2005160|EC.
In particular, in the extended correspondence that you exchanged with the Commission prior to your letter of 28 May 2012, you alleged that looted gold and other assets from the victims of the Ustasha genocide campaign may itill be deposited with the IOR, and may have been used for the minting of Euro denominated coins by the Vatican authorities, a situation that in your view would amount to money laundering within the meaning of Directive
2005160|EC.

In that respect, I note that in its letter of 9 November 2010, the Commission infoimed you that it had contacted the Vatican authorities and that the latter had confirmed that the silver euro collector coins are minted by an external contractor, the lstituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato of the Italian Republic, which purchases itself the silver needed for the minting of such coins, u1i thut the same Italian Institute is also responsible for the minting of the gold euro coins. The Commission also added that the raw material needed for minting gold coins is purchased each time by the vatican City State from speciaiisEd Swiss wholesaling institutions. In fact, Article 5.1 of the Monetary Agreement makes this explicit since it provides that "Euro coins issued by the Vitican City State shall be minted by the Istituto Poligrafico e Zecca dello Stato of the Italian nepiUtic".I note that you tlave not disputed these findings, nor provide.d by any evidence to the contrary, especially as regards the raw materials sourced euro the minting of the above designated Italian Institute for the purposes denominated coins on behalf of the Vatican authorities'

Therefore,theviewexpressedbytheConrmission,initsreplyofll tint between the applicationof the January 2013, that there is no direct tegit
and Monetary Agreement and the alleged deposit in the IOR.o.f looted gold convincing' and reasonable assets a".l"i.g from Holocaust viitims, aPPears

In light of the above, I consider that the Commission has replied to your your concerns' letter of 28 il4ay 2012, andhas taken appropriate stePs to address and allegation first the to regard Thus, no further inquiries are justified with corresponding claim. in an arbitrary suggest that the Commission dealt with your correspondence

Fortherest,Ihavenotbeenprovidedwithanyevidencethatwould

an"d"capriciousmanner,orerredinfavouroftheVaticanCityState'
In fact, the Commission on the contrary apPears to have taken alwaysprovidedyouwithatimelyandadequatereplytotherelevantissues in particular you raised in youi correspondence addressud to it. As regards jro.r, ,"qrr"st, also reiteraied in your recent letter of 3 june 2013' that the CommissionshouldassistyouandasktheAlFtoreplytoy-ourletters,please Commission or of note that the AIF is not unier the direct jurisdiction of the anyMemberState.Therefore,althoughtheCommissionmayindeedseekto foreseen by the raise and discuss such an issue withii the Joint Committee means to compel the Monetary Agreement, the Commission does not have the AlFtoacknowledgeand/orreplytoyourletters'Moreover,itshouldbenoted its regrets-about that in its letter of g Decemaei zol.z,ihe Commission expressed reply of 11 its in and the fact that the AIF had not responded to your request,
care and

}anuary20l3,providedyouwiththerelevantcontactdetailsofthenewly
appointed AIF Director.

Therefore, I find that there are insufficient grounds to open an inquiry into the second allegation and related claim.

I have therefore closed the case.

Yours sincerely,

Q r&/ (-l*\ YLe'*\ \

/--*\=_'Emily O'Reilly