Vatican to prosecute cardinal today for embezzlement and corruption in landmark trial

Cardinal Angelo Becciu, former senior official of the Vatican Secretariat of State, will sit on the dock this Tuesday, July 27 and this will be the first time that Vatican justice has indicted a member of the College of Cardinals, a representative body of the high ecclesiastical hierarchy.

Becciu, who was removed from his post last September from his post as Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints and stripped of his rights related to the cardinal for his alleged involvement in a case of embezzlement, continues to live in a apartment in the building of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, within the Vatican.

Vatican judges will prosecute him along with nine other people also accused of different crimes related to the opaque sale of a luxury building in the heart of London which, according to investigations, left a hole of nearly 400 million euros in the coffers of the small state.

Among those to be tried is the broker Gianluigi Torzi, whom the Vatican accuses of having deceived him in the sale of the London property and who obtained compensation of 15 million euros for the return of the building to his rightful owners; René Brülhart, former president of IDA, the Holy See’s Financial Supervisory Authority, who is accused by the prosecution of abuse of office; or Monsignor Mauro Carlino, former secretary to the deputy secretary of state, accused of extortion and abuse of office.

Likewise, Enrico Crasso, who would have managed the investments of the Secretary of State for decades, will be prosecuted, accused of embezzlement, corruption, extortion, money laundering and self-laundering, fraud, abuse of office, falsification of public documents by an individual and falsification of private documents; Tommaso Di Ruzza, former director of the AIF, whom the prosecution accuses of embezzlement, abuse of office and violation of official secrecy; or Raffaele Mincione, the broker who bought the Secretary of State for large shares of the fund that owned the London property at 60 Sloane Avenue in London, and who then used the money received for his speculative investments, accused of embezzlement of funds, fraud, abuse of office, embezzlement and self-laundering of money; and Nicola Squillace, lawyer involved in the negotiations, accused of fraud, embezzlement, money laundering and self-laundering.

Fabrizio Tirabassi, an official as secretary in the administrative office of the secretary of state who played a leading role in the case, will also be on trial, charged with corruption, extortion, embezzlement, fraud and abuse of office.

With them, the Italian Cecilia Marogna will be prosecuted, who according to the investigations disclosed in the press, received up to 500,000 euros from the funds of the Secretary of State managed by Becciu between 2011 and 2018, when she was the deputy. in charge. of this body which exercises the functions of the Prime Minister’s office. Of this money, around € 200,000 was used to purchase luxury items from brands such as Prada, Tod’s or Chanel. As she herself has defended in the Italian press, these items were not intended for her personal enjoyment, but were used as gifts on diplomatic trips and other entertainment expenses. The Italian woman has been the subject of a call by Italian media as “Lady of Becciu” and has been charged with embezzlement. His lawyers have already argued that they will ask the current Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, to testify as a witness.

The Holy See, however, releases all blame from the current heads of the Secretary of State, insisting that neither Bishop Perlasca, signatory of the share purchase agreement, nor his superiors, replacing him Edgar Peña Parra and, above all, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, were effectively informed and, in any event, “they were fully aware of the legal effects that the different categories of actions would have”, according to the surveys.

The first oral hearing is scheduled for July 27 and the technical issues of the legal process will be resolved. It will be later when the merits of the charges are recorded. Cardinal Becciu is accused of the crimes of embezzlement and abuse of office also in competition, as well as corruption.

The investigation began on the basis of complaints filed, respectively, by the Institute of Works of Religion (IOR) on July 2, 2019 and by the Office of the Auditor General on August 8, 2019. The latter complaint, in particular, alleged the commission serious crimes, such as fraud and other frauds, embezzlement, corruption, aiding and abetting and blackmail.

The auditor observed that most of the financial activities of the Secretary of State were concentrated in Credit Suisse (77% of the portfolio managed) and that a substantial part of the deposits mainly from donations received by the Pope “had been used in funds which, in turn, were invested in securities of which the client was not aware ”, as well as in high-risk speculative funds, with questionable ethics, placed in offshore countries.

In their request to open the trial, the Vatican magistrates observe “how the Secretary of State used the funds received for charitable purposes (Óbolo Fund and funds without titles), which by their nature are not likely to be used for speculative purposes, to carry operations at very high financial risk and, in any event, for purposes that are certainly incompatible with those of the original donors “, that is to say with” the main objective to support the religious and charitable activities of the Holy Father.

(With information from Europa Press)

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