The former president of … is sentenced to nearly 9 years in prison

Vatican justice sentenced the former president of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) to nearly nine years in prison on Thursday, the bank of the Holy See, for illicit enrichment and money laundering. Angelo Caloia, 81 years old and president of the institution for twenty years, was sentenced with his lawyer Gabriele Liuzzo, 97 years old, eight years and eleven months in prison and a fine of 12,500 euros to illegally appropriate tens of millions of euros after the sale of twenty properties in Rome and Milan. Lawyer son Lamberto Liuzzo sentenced to five years and two months imprisonment, in addition to the payment of high compensation.

According to the researchers, The three convicts hijacked the Vatican bank for more than 50 million euros ($ 60 million) through the sale of dozens of properties, carried out virtually without publicity or control between 2001 and 2008. The case was discovered in 2014, when the bank accounts of two bank executives and the lawyer were seized.

Of 29 sales reviewed, approximately 21 “were made below value and money saved by buyers ended up in the pockets of defendants.”, explained the lawyer of the banking institution, Alessandro Benedetti. The three defendants were excluded from exercising public functions in the papal state and the IOR and the real estate company SGIR must be compensated for some 23 million euros.

The lawsuit for embezzlement of public funds and money laundering began two and a half years ago, in May 2018, four years after Vatican authorities received a complaint from the bank itself. It is the first time that the Vatican has asked for a prison sentence for a financial crime.

In early December last year, Vatican prosecutor Alessandro Diddi requested eight years in prison for Angelo Caloia and Gabriele Liuzzo, for money laundering and embezzlement, as well as the seizure of more than $ 60 million from their accounts. . Caloia, 78, was chairman of the IOR between 1989 and 2009, while Liuzzo, 93, had no position in the entity.

The Vatican bank, founded in 1942, has been the subject of numerous scandals throughout its history, some of which involved the Sicilian Mafia.. The clients of the entity are priests, nuns, episcopal conferences, foundations and religious organizations around the world.