Vatican:

A procedure outlining the process for notifying the Office of the Auditor General of financial irregularities was released by the Holy See on Wednesday. The process will make it easier to share information and create opportunities for "whistleblowing," or reporting possible violations of the laws that the Holy See and Vatican City State have in place.

This is one of the most effective tools provided by the ‘United Nations Convention against Corruption’ for combating corruption and irregularities, to which the Holy See acceded in 2016.

In accordance with the Apostolic Constitution "Praedicate Evangelium" and the Office of the Auditor General's statutes, reports on particular situations related to anomalies in the use or allocation of financial or material resources, irregularities in the awarding of contracts or in the conduct of transactions or disposals, and other acts of corruption or fraud are to be sent to the Auditor General.

According to the procedure, such reports can be sent to the Auditor General using a special email account, segnalazionianomalie@urg.va or by a confidential letter addressed to him. The option of oral reporting is also available which can be done through a direct meeting or by videoconference with the Auditor General.

For his part, the Auditor General makes sure that the identity of the whistleblower can only be revealed to the judicial authority when the latter claims it is required for the purposes of an investigation or other judicial activity.  Auditor General also protects the confidentiality, integrity, and security of disclosures made by the whistleblowers.

The procedure makes it clear that prohibition to disclose the identity of the whistleblower applies not only to the whistleblower's name but to every component of the report, including any supporting documentation, to the extent that disclosing such information could, lead to the whistleblower's identity being discovered.

The procedure also elucidates how reports pertaining to inappropriate behavior that endangers or harms the general welfare may be filed. Reports, however, should not include personal grievances of the individual filing them. The legislation emphasizes that anonymous reports will not be followed up.

The Auditor General, Alessandro Cassinis Righini commented: "The issuance of the procedure will give even greater impetus to the reports, already received by the Office of the Auditor General in previous years, making it easier, especially through the electronic channel, to send them."