A Vatican judge on Saturday indicted 10 people, including a once-amazing cardinal, on charges including theft, abuse of office, coercion and extortion regarding the Secretariat of State’s 350 million-euro investment in a London real estate business.
The president of the Vatican’s criminal council, Giuseppe Pignatone, set July 27 as the trial date, however legal counselors for certain respondents addressed how they could get ready for trial so soon given they hadn’t yet officially received the indictment notice.
The 487-page indictment document was given after an extensive, two-year investigation concerning how the Secretariat of State dealt with its tremendous resource portfolio, quite a bit of which is supported by donations from the faithful. The embarrassment over its multimillion-dollar misfortunes has brought about a sharp decrease in donations and provoked Pope Francis to strip the workplace of its capacity to deal with the cash.
Five former Vatican officials, including Cardinal Angelo Becciu and two officials from the Secretariat of State were indicted, just as the Italian financial specialists who managed the investment.
Vatican examiners blame the primary suspects for bilking a great many euros from the Holy See in fees, awful investments and different misfortunes identified with financial dealings that were financed in huge part by Peter’s pence donations to the pope for works of charity. The suspects have denied bad behavior.
One of the primary suspects, Italian broker Gianluigi Torzi, is blamed for having coerced the Vatican of 15 million euros to turn over ownership for London building in late 2018. Torzi had been assigned by the Vatican to assist it with getting full ownership of the building from indicted manager that had taken care of the underlying interest in 2013, yet lost millions in what the Vatican says were speculative, imprudent deals.
Vatican investigators assert Torzi embedded an extremely late provision into the agreement giving him full voting rights in the arrangement.
The Vatican chain of command, notwithstanding, approved the agreement, with both the pope’s No. 2, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, and his deputy endorsing it. Neither was indicted. Moreover, Francis himself knew about the arrangement and Torzi’s contribution in it.
Vatican examiners say the Vatican command system was duped by Torzi and helped to some degree by an Italian legal advisor — who was likewise indicted Saturday — into consenting to the terms. The Secretariat of State expects to announce itself as a party in the deal.
Torzi has denied the charges and said the allegations were because of a misconception. He is presently in London pending an extradition request by Italian authorities, who are trying to arraign him on other financial charges. His delegates said they had no remark Saturday since they hadn’t yet seen the arraignment.
Also indicted was a onetime papal contender and Holy See official, Cardinal Angelo Becciu, who aided setup the London investment when he was chief of staff in the Secretariat of State.
Francis terminated him as the Vatican’s holy saint-making boss last year, obviously regarding a different issue: Becciu’s 100,000-euro gift of Holy See fund to a diocesan charity run by his sibling.
Becciu had initially not been part of the London investigation however was incorporated after it gave the idea that he was behind the proposition to purchase the building, investigators say, charging that he additionally meddled in the investigation.
In a statement Saturday released by his legal advisors, Becciu demanded the “total deception” of the allegations and decried what he said was “unrivaled media pillory” against him in the Italian press.
“I’m the casualty of a plot brought forth against me. Also, I have been waiting for quite a while to know the allegations against me, to permit myself to expeditiously deny them and demonstrate to the world my outright guiltlessness,” he said.
One of Becciu’s protégés, so called intelligence analyst Cecilia Marogna, was indicted on separate misappropriation charges. Becciu had recruited Marogna as an outside specialist after she contacted him in 2015 with worries about security at Vatican consulates in global hotspots. Becciu approved hundreds of thousands of euros of Holy See funds to her to free Catholic ministers and nuns held hostage in Africa, as indicated by WhatsApp messages reproduced by Italian media.
Her Slovenian-based holding company, which got the funds, was among the four companies additionally requested to stand trial.
Marogna says the money was paid for genuine intelligence work and repayments. Analysts say she spent the money on extravagance buys that were incongruent with the humanitarian duties of her company.
In an explanation Saturday, her legal team said Marogna had been prepared for some time to “give a full accounting of her work and fears nothing about the allegations made against her.”
Additionally arraigned were the former top two officials in the Vatican’s financial watch dog agency, for supposed abuse of office. Investigators say by neglecting to stop the Torzi bargain, they played out a “conclusive capacity” in allowing it to work out.
The attorney for the former office director, Tommaso di Ruzza, said he had just seen the Vatican press release about the charges yet demanded that his client “has consistently acted in the most careful regard of the law and his office obligations, in the elite interest of the Holy See.”
The former head of the office, Rene Bruelhart, safeguarded his work and said his indictment was a “procedural bubble that will be quickly explained by the organs of Vatican justice as soon as the defense will actually want to exercise its privileges.”
A former Secretary of State official, Monsignor Mauro Carlino, communicated shock at his indictment on supposed coercion and abuse of office charges, saying his only involvement in the ideal was after he was requested by his bosses to negotiate Torzi down from a 20 million euro fee to 15 million euros.
“It appears to be inconceivable that a commendable demonstration … that presented to him no personal advantage and had unexpectedly given a huge savings to the Secretariat of State, could prompt an indictment,” said a statement from his legal counselor, Salvino Mondello.
