A Vatican court has convicted Italian Cardinal Angelo Becciu, 75, of several counts of embezzlement and sentenced him to five years and six months in jail. Cardinal along with nine other defendants awaited verdict in the historic Vatican fraud trial case on Saturday. Along with embezzlement, cardinal was charged with abuse of office and trying to induce a witness to give false testimony.
The trial had exposed infighting and those of high power involved in corruption in the Vatican. Becciu was one of the powerful figures in the Vatican, who held the position of “sostituto” (substitute) in the Holy See’s Secretariat of State. The position came with immense privileges including walk-in visits and meetings with the Pope.
The panel of three lay judges of the Vatican's criminal court retired at 11.30 am (Rome time) to consider its verdicts on Saturday. Reading a note of thanks to lawyers and the media, Court President Giuseppe Pignatone termed the trial as "particularly complex".
More details of the verdict is yet to known.
The trial revolved around the purchase of a building in London by the Secretariat of State, the Vatican's key administrative and diplomatic department. In 2014, Becciu held the number two position in the office when it began investing in a fund managed by Italian financier Raffaele Mincione, securing about 45% of the building at 60 Sloane Avenue, in an upmarket district of the capital, reported Reuters.
In 2016, Becciu had moved to another Vatican post, the Secretariat of State felt it was being deceived by Mincione and turned to another financier, Gianluigi Torzi, for help in squeezing Mincione out and buying the rest of the building.
Torzi had obtained a great deal of money in the process as well and he was charged with fraud, and corruption too.
Meanwhile, the Vatican sold the building last year, taking an estimated loss of about 140 million euros.
Becciu was fired by Pope Francis in 2020 for alleged nepotism. Among other accusations against the cardinal include funnelling money and contracts to companies or charitable organisations controlled by his brothers on their native island of Sardinia.
Reportedly, Becciu was also accused of hiring a self-styled security analyst to help a nun escape, who had been kidnapped in Mali.
Analyst Cecilia Marogna also received money from the Secretariat of State in 2018-2019. According to the prosecutors, the money was sent to a company she had set up in Slovenia and she received some in cash.
Italian police said Marogna had spent much of the money for personal use, including luxury brand clothing and visits to health spas. She is charged with embezzlement.
The other six defendants include the former president and director of the Vatican's Financial Intelligence unit, the cardinal's former secretary, Father Mauro Carlino, and three former Vatican employees. Four companies associated with individual defendants were also indicted.