BRIMSTONE& CO.
JONATHAN LEVY
ATTORNEY & SOLICITOR
| 629 K STREEY N\lv SUrrE 3('0
WASHINGTON DC 2()006 USA
T ELIF ax | -202-9 | a-24oe
htly 2,2011
Autorita di Informazione Finanziaria (AIF)
CardinaAl ttilio Nicora,P resident
Palazzo San Carlo
Rome
VATICAN CITY
Ustasha Victim Gold and the EU/Vatican Monetary Agreement
Your Eminence:
We havep reviouslyc orrespondeda boutt his matteri n detail with the
European Commission and European Central Bank. We were then referred to the nascent AIF by the European Commission Directorate General for Economica ndF inanciaAl ffair on January5 , 2011.W e havew aiteds everal months for the AIF to become fully active and staffed under its enabling statutesb eforec ontactingy ou abouta matteri nvolving certaina ccountsat the IOR (Istituto per le Opere di Religione) tlrat have been used to launder and retain World War II era victim assetsfr orn former Yugoslavi4 the so called Ustasha Treasury. Our clients include Holocaust survivors worldwide and organizationsin Serbiaa nd the United States.V estigeso fthe assets, including moveable and immoveable property or profits there from are still on deposita t theI OR.
This requestf or an investigationa nd inquiry dealsw ith the unresolvedis sue ofthb "Ustasha Treasury" and the missing gold and other valuables from former Yugoslaviaf irst documentedb y the 1998U nited StatesS tate DeparbnentE izenstat/SlanyR eport entitled ConcernsA bout the Fateo fthe Wartime Ustasha Treasury which concluded tbat there was evidence pointing to Vaticani nvolvementi n launderingc oncentrationc ampg old and loot after the Second World War.
This gold bullion, silver, and other valuables are victim property looted from Serbs,R oma,a ndJ ewsb y the unrecognizedC roatianU stashar egimew hich hasn everb eena ccountedfo r by the Vaticand espiten umerousd emands including our own lawsuit in the United States against tle Vatican Bank (Institute for Religious Works). The victims we represenst ufferedl osseso family propertyt o the Usasha including gold, silver, banknotesa ndjewelry which was looted by the Ustasha and eventually deposited at the Holy See's Vatican Bank in 1944-1946a nd haveb eenu naccountedfo r since.
For example:
Nadezda Bates was bom in Bihac, Bosnia, Kingdom of Yugoslavia in 1923 Plaintiffs father,J ankoB at€s,w as a wealthy Serbb usinessmanin Bihac and owneda n establishmennt amedK afanaB eograd. The Batesf arnily omed numerouso ther propertiest hrougho ut the region and had accumulateda great deal of wealth including an opulently funished home and jewelry including one dozenh andm adeb raceletso f 18 carat gold with sapphires and diamondsa nd threen ecklacesm adei n the samef ashionw ith dark sapphires, twenty rings made of l8 carat gold, hmdreds of gold ducats, and many items oflesser value. They also possesseda quantityo fcash and a large stock of food and drink used in their trade. On June 23, 1941 agents ofthe Ustasha Regimee nteredi nto Bihac and arrestedt he Serba nd Jewishi nhabitants. Plaintiff witnessedt he well organizedp illaging and plunderingo f the Bates family property and Jewishp ropertiesi n the neighborhoodb y the Ustasha Regime's agents. Teams of special soldiers with trucks conducted the looting operation in a thorough manner. The Ustasha soldiers herded the Serbs and Jews into the changing rooms at the Bihac sports grounds, where they were thoroughlys earchedre lievedo fany concealedv aluables. Plaintiff and her family was transportedto Kmjeusab y the Ustashaw hereh er father
and brother were murdered by Ustasha armed forces under the command of the Ustasha Governor of Bihac, Ljubomir Kvatemik.
Dr. Milan Bates is a r€sident of the United Kingdom and is legal
repr6sentativeto thesec laims on behalf of the Batesf amily and demandsa naccounting oftheir share of gold in the Ustasha Treasury estimated to worth 40 ouncesa ndt le familyj ewelry worth in excess of $100,000.
Mileva Reljanovic (Vujcic) was born in 1930 in Vojskova, Bosnia, Kingdom of Yugoslavia and currently resides in Sweden. In 1942 the Ustasha Regime's agents forcibty removed all Serbs ftom Vojskova in order to "colonize" the region. The village store and its contents owtred by plaintif Fs family was seized and the Serb residents of the town terrorized by rampaging Ustasha armed forces who killed and raped indiscriminately among the Serbs. The store and its contents were converted to cash by the Ustasha Regime's Ministry ofColonization and the proceeds added to the Ustasha Treasury. Plaintiff and her family members were sent to Jasenovac concentrationc ampw hereh er father and someo fher siblings died. Upon enteringJ asenovact,h e Ustasha Regimea gentsc onfiscatedt hej ewelry the family had concealedo n their persons. Ms. Reljanovic, a Swedish citizen also request s an accountrng.
The organizationst,h e IndependenCt ormcil of SerbianR oma,R epublik
SrpskaK rajina in Exile, The JasenovacM emorial Centera nd Jasenovac
ResearchIn stitute alsor equesta n accountingo n behalfoftheir members
some of who were victims or legal heirs of victims of the Ustasha.
This gold and other raluables are in Vatican Bank custody and were looted by the IndependenStt ateo f Croatiab etween1 941-194a5s p arto fthe Ustasha genocidal campaign against Serbs, Jews, and Roma in which an estimated5 00,000s o called undesirablesm, ainly Serbsa nd Rom 4 were liquidated.T he gold and looted assetsw as depositeda t tle Vatican Bank in 1946 according to contemporaneoudso cumentsa uthored by Allied investigatorsa nd buttressedb y the sworn testimonyo f former US Special Agent William Gowenw ho while stationedi n Rome investigated and interviewed the Ustashai nvolved in the tr-ansfe or flot to the Vatican in 1946 and 1947 .
I must also add the losses of our Roma clients are extremely well
documentedth rought he efforts ofthe IndependenCt ouncil of Serbian
Roma.R omaa ssetsw ere often in gold and silver coin and were confiscated by the Ustasha and became part ofthe Ustasha Treasury.
This victim gold has been the subject ofa decade long lawsuit in the United States 1999 to 2010 against the Vatican Bank (Institute for Religious Works) andw hich is still pendinga s to The FranciscanO rder.' The lawsuit however was dismissedw ithout prejudicei n regardst o the IOR and OFM, it was I Alperin v. Vaticln BqnLa nd OFM, United StatesD istrict Court for the Northem District of Califomia. D.C. No. CV-99-0494I-MMC. Maxine M. ChesneyD, istrict Judge, Presidine. dismissed not on the merits, but on grounds of lack of subject matter jurisdiction due to Vatican sovereign organ immunity from legal process in the United States.T hatjudgrnentw as appealeda nd is now final by order of the United StatesN inth Circuit Court of Appealsa s of March 2011. We are now free to bring this matter directly to the Vatican as has been suggested repeatedlyin the pastb y the IOR's attomey,M r. Lena. We haven ot dones o previouslyb ecauseth e AII was not yet in existencea nd no appropriate authority existed over the IOR or its account holders. As the appeal is now terminated, we bring this mafter to you in a timely fashion. In surn,w e are requestingth e Comrnissiono pena n inquiry and accounting into these well founded allegations ofrnoney laundering and retention of Holocaustv ictim assetsb y financial organsa ssociatedw ith or which are agencieosf the VaticanC ity State.
We stand ready to submit electronically or by post a large volume of
information including testimonya nd documentationto supportt hese
allegationsa ndt o cooperatee ntirely. The legal representativeos f the OFM andI OR area lsoi n possessioonf volumeso flegal docurnentfsr om the U S Courtsa ndt heir own internal investigationsw hich haven ot beenr eleased. Despite being provided ample opportunity and forum, the OFM and IOR has repeatedly refused to answer this allegation by Holocaust victims by citing sovereign and jurisdictional immunity from inquiry instead. However, we assert through the Vatican Monetary Agreernent with the EU, the time has finally anived for closure in this long unresolved matter ofHolocaust asset launderingb y the Vatican undert he auspiceso fthe EuropeanC ommission and European Cenhal Bank.
IOR accountsa nd/ort heir successoar ccountst hat are or were associated with these names are identified as being under suspicion ofretaining Holocausat ssets:
Ante Bonifacic
Order of Friars Minor
Croatian Almanac
CroatianC atholic MessengeNr ewspaper
CroatianC ustodyo fthe Holy Familyo fChicago
Croatian Historical Society
Croatian Liberation Movement
CroatianP ublishingH ouseC roatia
DanicaN ewspape(ro f Chicago)
Fr. KrunoslavD raganovic
Fr. Dominik Mandic, OFM
FranciscaPn rintery( of Chicago)
SreckoP senicnik
TheC roatianC onfraternityo f SanG irolamo
TheR omanC atholicD ioceseo f Zageb
Thank you for your cooperationin this end eavoar ndw it hall duer especwt e request that members of the FIA who area ssociatewd ith IOR or OFM recuseth emselvefsro mt his mattero wingt o the appearancoef a conflict of interestg ivent he prohactedli tigationt hatp recededth is request.
Finally,w e will requesat n acknowledgemebnyt fax +l -202-318-240o6r
email: jonlevy@hargray.cormeg ardingy ourr eoeipto fthis letter.
Sincerely,
r. JonathanL ely,
Attomey and Solicitor
