This time, he was not flashing his wallet full of 500 euro notes. Rather, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano is apprehended by Italian authorities after allegedly trying to bring back to Italy $26 million in cash owned by Salerno, Italy's prominent D'Amico family aboard a government plane.

This was not the first time that he was charged with such offense for he still under investigation in the said city over an alleged money-laundering act worth 560,000 euros which was intended for the establishment of a house of the terminally ill which is still non-existent.

But in his latest fiasco, Defense lawyer Silverio Sica stated that Scarano was just a mediator for broker Giovanni Carenzio to return the said amount. Scarano talked Carenzio into giving the money back via Italian secret service agent Giovanni Maria Zito who came to Switzerland to collect and return the money.

However, Prosecutor Nello Rossi said that Scarano tried to smuggle the amount from a UBS Bank in Locarno, Switzerland to Italy and had Zito has his accomplice to cover up the illegal act and to avoid financial regulations. The scheme came to light due to wiretapped communication lines that were used by the three. The plan fell off and their mobile phones were eventually burned.

Scarano is now being held at a 17th century prison in Rome and he will be up for interrogation soon. Zito is being held at a military prison while Carenzio is behind bars as well. Before become a priest, Scarano had a career in the banking industry. He also worked at the department overseeing the Vatican's assets but was relieved of his duties due to corruption allegations. Rossi also said that Scarano's ties with the IOR enabled him to loosely maintain two accounts, one for his personal needs and one for "the old people".

Meanwhile, Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi expressed that they too are making the appropriate measures regarding this case and that they are not in the right position to make further comments regarding the arrest. To address more issues like this, Pope Francis also named five people to a commission that will look into anomalies regarding the Vatican's bank. Some of the members are Monsignor Peter Wells from the United States and Former US Ambassador to Holy See Mary Ann Glendon.

The recent allegation adds to the list of scandals that the privately-held institution has been associated with. In the 1980s, the IOR was heavily implicated on the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano because it was its largest share holder. At its peak, the bank was said to be worth $3.5 billion but it was also alleged that they dealt with money from the Sicilian Mafia. To hide the transactions, the Propaganda Due was used in behalf of the mafia. While they did not have direct involvement in the scandal, the IOR paid around $240 million to its creditors for moral damages.

It was also alleged that during World War II, the treasury of Croatia worth 350 million Swiss francs was about to be transferred to the IOR for safekeeping. However, British troops intercepted 150 million of these at the Austria-Switzerland border and made the transfer public. While the transfer process itself was deemed illegal, the amount cannot be accounted for anymore.

In 2009, the Banca d'Italia and Guardia di Finanzia investigated 180 million euros worth of laundered money via a UniCredit branch near St. Peter's Basilica. In 2010, former IOR president Gotti Tedeschi and another manager illegally transferred an undisclosed amount of money from the Vatican bank to JP Morgan Chase and Banca del Fucino. This scandal eventually led to Tedeschi's ouster as IOR president in 2012.

Furthermore, it has been alleged that the IOR is being used as a front for funds of politicans and organized crime even though only priests, members of the religious, Catholic institutions, Vatican City diplomats and state employees are the only ones allowed to maintain an account in the bank.