Vatican Announces 10 People Charged Including Cardinal Becciu After London Property Investigation - FULL TEXT Release

 

Press release of the Holy See Press Office, 03.07.2021

With today's decree, the President of the Vatican Tribunal ordered the summons for the judgment of the accused in the context of the financial investments of the Secretariat of State in London. The trial will begin at the hearing on July 27th.

The request for summons to trial was presented in recent days by the Office of the Promoter of Justice, in the persons of the Promoter Gian Piero Milano, the Deputy Alessandro Diddi and the Applied Officer Gianluca Perone and concerns ecclesiastical and lay staff of the Secretariat of State and senior figures of the then Financial Intelligence Authority, as well as external figures, active in the world of international finance.

It's a matter of:

- René Brülhart , to whom the prosecution challenges the crime of abuse of office ;

- Mauro Mons. Carlino , to whom the prosecution disputes the crimes of extortion and abuse of office ;

- Enrico Crasso , to whom the prosecution disputes the crimes of embezzlement, corruption, extortion, money laundering and self- laundering , fraud, abuse of office, false public deed material committed by the private individual and false private deed ;

- Tommaso Di Ruzza , to whom the prosecution disputes the crimes of embezzlement, abuse of office and violation of office secrecy ;

- Cecilia Marogna , to whom the prosecution disputes the crime of embezzlement ;

- Raffaele Mincione , to whom the prosecution disputes the crimes of embezzlement, fraud, abuse of office, embezzlement and self- laundering ;

- Nicola Squillace , to whom the prosecution disputes the crimes of fraud, embezzlement, money laundering and self- laundering ;

- Fabrizio Tirabassi, to whom the prosecution disputes the crimes of corruption , extortion , embezzlement , fraud and abuse of office ;

- Gianluigi Torzi , to whom the prosecution disputes the crimes of extortion, embezzlement, fraud, embezzlement, money laundering and self- laundering ;

and towards companies:

- HP Finance LLC , attributable to Enrico Crasso, to whom the prosecution disputes the crime of fraud ;

- Logsic Humanitarne Dejavnosti, DOO ., Referable to Cecilia Marogna, to whom the prosecution disputes the crime of embezzlement ;

- Prestige Family Office SA , referable to Enrico Crasso, to whom the prosecution disputes the crime of fraud ;

- Sogenel Capital Investment , referable to Enrico Crasso, to whom the prosecution disputes the crime of fraud .

Some of the aforementioned crimes are also contested " in competition ".

The investigations, launched in July 2019 following a complaint by the Institute for Works of Religion and the Office of the Auditor General, saw full synergy between the Promoter's Office and the Judicial Police section of the Gendarmerie Corps. The preliminary activities were also carried out in close and fruitful collaboration with the Rome Public Prosecutor's Office and the Economic-Financial Police Unit - GICEF of the Rome Finance Police. Cooperation with the prosecutors of Milan, Bari, Trento, Cagliari and Sassari and the respective sections of the judicial police are also appreciable.

Elements also emerged against Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu , against whom we proceed, as required by law, for the offenses of embezzlement and abuse of office also in competition , as well as subornation .

The preliminary activities, also carried out with rogatorial commissions in numerous other foreign countries (United Arab Emirates, Great Britain, Jersey, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Switzerland), have allowed to bring to light a vast network of relationships with financial market operators that have generated significant losses for Vatican finances, having also drawn on the resources destined for the Holy Father's works of personal charity.

The judicial initiative is directly linked to the indications and reforms of His Holiness Pope Francis, in the work of transparency and reorganization of Vatican finances; work which, according to the accusatory hypothesis, was opposed by illegal and detrimental speculative activities on the reputational level in the terms indicated in the request for summons.

Vatican City, July 3, 2021

Source: https://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/it/bollettino/pubblico/2021/07/03/0437/00970.html