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A cardinal who oversaw the administration of Vatican funds from 2011 to 2018 has been convicted of a number of counts of embezzlement and fraud in a landmark corruption case.
Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, as soon as one of the highly effective figures within the Holy See, was sentenced by the Vatican’s legal court docket to 5 years and 6 months in jail on Saturday in what the Italian media had dubbed the Catholic Church’s “trial of the century”.
The costs resulted from an investigation by Vatican police into the alleged misuse of church funds in an ill-fated London property investment.
The Holy See had bought a minority stake in an workplace constructing in Knightsbridge from a fund that was based by London-based Italian financier Raffaele Mincione, and deliberate to transform the constructing right into a luxurious condo complicated. Nevertheless, the native council had not granted planning permission for the conversion when the Vatican purchased into the undertaking.
After spending greater than €350mn to accumulate the property between 2014 and 2018, the Holy See realised losses of £100mn when it bought the constructing to Bain Capital for £186mn final yr.
Throughout the trial — which started in July 2021 and held 86 hearings with 69 witnesses — Becciu’s legal professionals argued that the cardinal was “completely unaware of the potential issues” with the actual property funding or that it was “probably unlawful”.
“No one ever communicated the presence of issues and dangers within the funding,” his defence workforce wrote in a submission to the court docket final month.
Nevertheless Mincione argued in court docket that the Vatican was effectively conscious of the dangers and had misplaced cash due to its personal irrational selections.
Mincione, who was additionally charged within the case, was discovered responsible of embezzlement and money-laundering and sentenced to 5 years and 6 months in jail.
Others concerned within the complicated collection of actual property dealings have been additionally convicted, together with Gianluigi Torzi, whom the Vatican had later requested to assist it purchase full management of the constructing.
Torzi was convicted of extortion, fraud and money-laundering and sentenced to 6 years in jail.
Enrico Crasso, a former Credit score Suisse banker who had arrange an impartial consulting firm to supply monetary recommendation to the Holy See, was convicted of embezzlement, money-laundering and corruption and sentenced to seven years in jail.
Two members of the Holy See’s monetary oversight committee have been convicted of dereliction of obligation and given small fines.
In whole, seven folks have been sentenced to jail within the case and ordered to pay about €200mn in damages to the Holy See.
Becciu was additionally convicted of an extra cost of embezzlement for sending €125,000 to a charitable organisation led by his brother which was ostensibly set as much as assist marginalised teams together with addicts, former convicts and the unemployed.
A lawyer for Becciu, the primary cardinal ever to face trial within the Vatican’s legal court docket, mentioned he would enchantment towards the decision.
We are going to maintain crying out loud that the cardinal is harmless,” mentioned Maria Concetta Marzo, a lawyer for the cardinal.
Saturday’s high-profile convictions come amid indicators that Pope Francis, who has pledged to wash up church funds, could also be rising uncomfortable with the fallout of his marketing campaign.
In a current assembly with Vatican auditors, he referred to as for “merciful discretion” as they attempt to root out unhealthy actors and corruption.
“The lure of corruption is so harmful that we have to be extraordinarily vigilant,” the pontiff advised the auditors. However he mentioned that scandals “serve extra to fill the pages of the newspapers than to right behaviour”.
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