AUSTRAC, the regulator given the job of cracking down on cash laundering and terrorism financing, has been caught with its pants down after revelations it had dramatically overestimated the worth of funds produced from the Vatican Metropolis to Australia.

In response to a query at Senate estimates final 12 months, the regulator initially mentioned $2.3 billion had been transferred from the Vatican to Australia over the previous seven years. However immediately it issued a mea culpa. The true determine was simply $9.5 million.

The earlier sum managed to throw gasoline on the hearth of a bunch of conspiracy theories surrounding Cardinal George Pell’s quashed conviction for youngster intercourse abuse. With the diminished determine, now what?