Vatican convicts 10, including a cardinal, of financial crimes

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On Saturday, the Vatican announced that 10 people had been charged with financial crimes, including a prominent Italian cardinal. The charges included embezzlement, money laundering, fraud, extortion and abuse of office in connection with financial investments, the financial arm of the Vatican, made in London in 2018.

Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Piccio, who once held a high position in the Vatican administration, will go to trial on July 27, along with two senior officials of the Vatican’s Financial Intelligence Unit. The trial centers on the Vatican’s multi-million-euro purchase of a building in one of London’s most beautiful neighbourhoods.

The Vatican made its investigation into the crimes public in 2019, when Vatican police raided the offices of the State Secretariat, the Central Director of the Catholic Church, and the offices of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority.

The Vatican claims that the Secretariat of State purchased about half of the commercial and residential building at 60 Sloane Street in the Chelsea area of ​​London in 2014 for €200 million. It is alleged that much of the purchase money came from contributions from believers.

Pope Francis has asked Bessio, now 73, to resign in 2020 over allegations of embezzlement and nepotism. He is currently the most senior Vatican official to be charged with financial crimes, but he maintained his innocence during the two-year investigation. Becciu retained his title, but lost all of his privileges as a cardinal, including the right to vote for the next pope.

Pope Francis gave the needed consent last week to indict the cardinal, which is detailed in a 487-page indictment, according to Reuters. The Vatican announced the indictments in a two-page statement.

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The allegations against Bessio include “crimes of embezzlement and abuse of office, also in association, as well as summonses.” The Cardinal’s former secretary was accused of extortion, and an Italian woman who worked for him was accused of embezzlement.

According to the press release, four companies that were dealing with the individual defendants have also been indicted, including one company in Slovenia, one in the United States and two in Switzerland.

Gianluigi Torzi and Raffaele Mencioni, two Italian brokers who worked with Becciu, were charged with embezzlement, fraud and money laundering.

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