Pair accused of trying to deposit fake bonds in Vatican bank

Vatican police apprehended an American and a Dutch man who were trying to deposit billions of euros and US dollars in fake bonds in the Vatican bank.

The men were stopped by the police when they approached one of the guarded gates at the Vatican and asked to be let through to the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), as the bank is formally known, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said.

The bonds were in a briefcase they were carrying and the men were handed over to Italy's financial police, who found false passports and other fake documents in their hotel rooms.

The haul came a day after Italian prosecutors said two former top executives at the Vatican bank would go on trial for money laundering in a case that led to the seizure of €23 million (HK$245 million).

IOR press officer Max Hohenberg said the American and Dutch man "are neither clients of the bank, nor were they expected".

The bank, which handles the accounts of Catholic clerics and congregations around the world, has a murky reputation, but the Vatican has vowed to clean it up and bring it in line with international laws.