In an embarrassing turn of events, a staff magazine of British Airways carried a front-page photo of Osama bin Laden, labelling him as a frequent flyer with the airlines.
BA’s in-house Heathrow newspaper LHR News showed a photo illustrating a scheme to let passengers receive their boarding pass via their iPhones.
The photo shows a smiling check-in steward greeting a happy passenger while another holds his iPhone up to the camera. A close-up shows a white boarding pass bearing the name Bin Laden/Osama.
To compound BA’s embarrassment, the pass also classes the world’s most wanted terrorist as a “frequent flyer”.
The gaffe doesn’t end there — Bin Laden’s seat is 7C, which would put him firmly in the luxury of First Class.
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Vatican Bank suspected of laundering
Vatican City : Italian prosecutors are investigating the Vatican Bank on suspicion of involvement in money laundering, La Repubblica daily reported on Tuesday.
The newspaper said the Institute of Religious Works (IOR) and 10 Italian banks, including major institutions such as Intesa San Saolo and Unicredit, were the target of the investigation.
“The hypothesis of the investigators is that subjects with their fiscal residence in Italy are using the IOR as a ‘screen’ to hide different dealings, such as fraud or tax evasion,” the paper said.
The Institute of Religious Works manages bank accounts for religious orders and Catholic associations and benefits from Vatican offshore status.
Investigators have uncovered transactions of around $218 million over a two-year period in one of the accounts held at the IOR.
In September 2009 the IOR nominated a new chief executive, Mr Ettore Gotti Tedeschi, Spanish banking giant Santander’s representative in Italy.
US archbishop Paul Marcinkus headed up the bank in 1971-1989 during which time it was caught up in scandals. —AFP