Former Deloitte Italy CEO Appointed to Audit Vatican

Pope Francis has appointed Libero Milone, the former chairman and CEO of Deloitte & Touche Italy, as the first auditor general of the Vatican, where he is expected to oversee a clean-up of the scandal-scarred Vatican Bank.

Milone, 66, was born in the Netherlands, according to Reuters, and has worked at major accounting firms in the U.S., the United Kingdom and Italy. He also worked as an auditor at the United Nations World Food Program in Rome, the Italian carmaker Fiat and Wind Telecom Group.

He will report directly to Pope Francis and reportedly has been given a free hand in auditing the finances and management of any department at the Vatican. The Vatican Bank is expected to be a top priority.

Last July, Pope Francis pledged to replace the top management at the Vatican Bank, which has been plagued for years by accusations of corruption, financial mismanagement and money laundering. In December, Italian prosecutors froze the bank accounts of two former Vatican Bank managers and an attorney representing them on suspicion of embezzlement. The bank’s former president and director-general were accused of misrepresenting the sale prices of real estate sold by the Vatican, pocketing 57 million euros, the difference between the actual sale price and the amount recorded on the books, on 29 buildings sold between 2001 and 2008.

Milone was chairman and CEO of Deloitte in Italy from 2003 to 2007. He started with the firm in 1975 and became an audit partner in 1984, according to his LinkedIn profile. From 2008 to 2011, he was senior advisor and honorary chairman of the management consulting firm Protiviti, providing consulting services in corporate governance, internal controls and risk management. From 2012 until his appointment by the Vatican, he also was chairman and managing partner of his own management consulting firm, Milone Associates.