René Brülhart (born 1972) is a Swiss lawyer from

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () o ...

, who served as the President of the Board of Directors of the

Financial Information Authority The Supervisory and Financial Information Authority ( it, Autorità di Vigilanza e Informazione Finanziaria, or ASIF), formerly known as the Financial Intelligence Authority ( it, Autorità di Informazione Finanziaria, or AIF) is an institution ...

(AIF) of

Vatican City Vatican City (), officially the Vatican City State ( it, Stato della Città del Vaticano; la, Status Civitatis Vaticanae),—' * german: Vatikanstadt, cf. '—' (in Austria: ') * pl, Miasto Watykańskie, cf. '—' * pt, Cidade do Vati ...

. He was the first lay person serving in this position. Brühlhart was raised in

Düdingen Düdingen (; french: Guin ; frp, Duens, locally ) is a municipality in the district of Sense in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. It is one of the municipalities with a large majority of German speakers in the mostly French speaking Cant ...

and studied

law Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...

at the

University of Fribourg The University of Fribourg (french: Université de Fribourg; german: Universität Freiburg) is a public university located in Fribourg, Switzerland. The roots of the university can be traced back to 1580, when the notable Jesuit Peter Canisius ...

between 1993 and 1997. Before being nominated President of the AIF by

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

on 19 November 2014, he served as the director of the same institution since November 2012 (nominated by

Pope Benedict XVI Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the sovereign ...

). From 2004 to 2012 he headed

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constitutional monarchy ...

financial intelligence unit Financial intelligence (FININT) is the gathering of information about the financial affairs of entities of interest, to understand their nature and capabilities, and predict their intentions. Generally the term applies in the context of law enfo ...

which was elected by the Plenary to act as Vice-Chair of the

Egmont group The Egmont Group (formerly The Gutenberghus Group) is a Danish media corporation founded and rooted in Copenhagen, Denmark. The business area of Egmont has traditionally been magazine publishing but has over the years evolved to comprise mass me ...

from 2010 to 2012.

Controversy

On 18 November 2019 René Brülhart officially stepped down as President of the AIF. Though it was announced that he stepped down due to the expiration of his five-year term, Brülhart's resignation also came weeks after Vatican police raided his office, as well as the offices of other AIF officials, due to an ongoing corruption scandal.https://www.ft.com/content/2dc7bf84-0a17-11ea-b2d6-9bf4d1957a67On One major scandal involved using

Peter's Pence Peter's Pence (or ''Denarii Sancti Petri'' and "Alms of St Peter") are donations or payments made directly to the Holy See of the Catholic Church. The practice began under the Saxons in England and spread through Europe. Both before and after the ...

, which serves as the Pope's charity fund, to buy luxury property in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

as far back as 2012, when Brülhart first became a member of the AIF. In 2017, it was also acknowledged that the Vatican Secretariat of State, which serves as the Vatican's central administration bureaucracy, kept Swiss bank accounts, with the departments Prefect Pietro Parolin acknowledging that these accounts were used to hide charity money which was used to purchase the London property. Both the AIF and Secretariat assisted each other in the purchase, with the AIF even selling the Secretariat a share of the London property in 2014. Pope Francis acknowledged the investigation during an interview while flying back to Rome on 26 November 2019. He also stated that interrogations have been taking place and it has been confirmed that "There is corruption in the Vatican" as well. On 27 November 2019 Carmelo Barbagallo, who previously served as head of the Bank of Italy's Supervision Office, was appointed by Pope Francis to succeed Brülhart.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brulhart, Rene 1972 births 20th-century Swiss lawyers Living people People from Fribourg University of Fribourg alumni 21st-century Swiss lawyers Vatican City people