Vatican Embezzlement Trial Against Cardinal Becciu and 9 others Continues with a Verdict expected at the Year's End

 The indictment of the Vatican promoter of Justice, Alessandro Diddi, continues with a focus on crimes of corruption and fraud with funds from the Secretariat of State for the sale of the London Estate.

The promoter of Justice Alessandro Diddi recalled the words of Pope Francis on the management of ecclesiastical goods, thrift, the attitude of a "good father of a family", to indicate how instead some subjects within the Secretariat of State have behaved completely contrary, arriving at carrying out "highly speculative" and "reckless" operations which have caused serious "damage" to the Holy See. First of all, the sale of the London Palace: "It caused damage ranging from 139 million to 189 million euros, according to the scenarios to be taken into consideration".

The Promoter of Justice focused his entire indictment today, 19 July, the sixty-third hearing of the process for the management of the funds of the Holy See, the second of the six hearings dedicated to the requests of the accusations (the last will be Wednesday 26 July with the sentencing motions) on the London operation. For about four hours Diddi reconstructed the story which, he said, has its roots in the proposal for an investment in oil wells in Angola, put forward by Cardinal Angelo Becciu (defendant) but which never went through.

In October 12, 2012, when the Angolan entrepreneur Antonio Mosquito, an old acquaintance of Becciu from the time of the nunciature in the African country, proposed to the Secretariat of State to participate in an oil deal managed by Falcon Oil of which he is responsible. That story, according to the assistant promoter of Justice, Gianluca Perone, who spoke in the afternoon, was "preparatory to the London deal" because Mincione, involved as an expert consultant for the deal, made the money destined for Angola converge in commodities of his fund. And when the Secretariat of State filled the fund with the necessary money, it was decided not to continue with the investment which "was no longer good" and represented high risk profiles. It should not be forgotten that in the meantime the Holy See had paid Mincione 500,000 dollars in advance in various tranches for a due diligence.

After the filing of the Angolan deal, the proposal for the London building, owned by Mincione for a year, took over. From there a ballet of figures on the valuation of the property, purchased for 120 million pounds, immediately overvalued to 173 million and finally, after various issues and situations (including fluctuations in the real estate market also due to Brexit or alleged expansion and "business" projects), sold to the Holy See for 230 million pounds again. Almost double.

Of that attempted operation "Becciu was the inspirer", according to the Vatican PG. It was "the background to a single design" which resulted in this "brilliant operation" which caused an "enormous chasm", "in defiance of the rules of the Pastor Bonus and of the Canonical Code", he said. Several times Diddi spoke of a "direction" by Cardinal Becciu, making very harsh accusations against him.

It was a way, this but also others, according to the promoter, to carry out "shielding" operations on the assets of the Secretariat of State "to protect it from controls", including those of the Secretariat for the Economy. Again the promoter denied the image returned by Becciu in the interrogations of "a substitute engaged in curial and pastoral activities, not very inclined towards administration". Instead, according to him, he was fully involved in the management and aware of the "peculation" that was taking place in the offices of the Secretariat of State for the benefit of the two financiers Raffaele Mincione and Gianluigi Torzi (both defendants). The cardinal, according to the promoter, actually witnessed the "dismemberment of resources in a passive way".

Diddi then explained the reasons why Becciu entered the focus of the investigations in which he was not initially involved: he then spoke, among other things, of reports from Slovenia which indicated a transfer of sums by the Secretariat of State to a local company for alleged humanitarian purposes (Logsic Inc. of the Sardinian manager Cecilia Marogna, also accused, involved in a humanitarian operation for the release of a nun kidnapped in Mali), of the "contributions to the brothers" and of the payments to "Cecilia Zulema" ( Marogna). Then he remarked on Becciu's attitude of defense at the beginning of the investigation "from an accusation not yet expressly formulated": "Instead of asking for comparisons and clarifications with the judicial authority, from the first moment his interlocutor was the journalists". The promoter claimed that the cardinal would have used "compliant journalists" and "friends" to create press campaigns aimed at detracting from the ongoing investigation.

The sixty-fourth hearing of the process on financial investments of the Secretariat of State in London also saw new spontaneous declarations made by Cardinal Angelo Becciu, as well as the point on the next appointments of the proceeding. In the multipurpose hall of the Vatican Museums, in addition to the cardinal, the defendants Fabrizio Tirabassi and Enrico Crasso were present.

In a tight waltz of dates, chats, emails and meetings, Alessandro Diddi reconstructed, according to what emerged from the investigations conducted, the circumstances that led to the exit of Raffaele Mincione from the Sloane Avenue building affair, for 40 million euros. The promoter spoke of a real "team", made up of Giuseppe Milanese, Fabrizio Tirabassi, iconically identified as "Cip and Ciop"; Enrico Crasso, Renato Giovannini, Manuele Intendente, Nicola Squillace, capable of "forgery works of art", and Gianluigi Torzi, who thanks to his "cunning" managed to hold the "cards of the game". In over five hours, "the antics of the trip to London" and the "feverish negotiations" of November 2018 were brought into focus, when, in reality, "everything had already been conceived", with the Framework Agreement and the Share Purchase Agreement. Events that only worsened the situation of the Secretary of State, who continued not to manage the property, which ended up in the hands of the broker from Molise thanks to the thousand shares with voting rights. Even the latter, in the end, tried to "raise cash" to leave the horizon of interest of the Holy See, with 15 million euros. Furthermore, the responsibilities and omissions of Msgr. Mauro Carlino and the "public officials" of what used to be the AIF (Financial Intelligence Authority), mainly responsible for abuse of office.

Cardinal Becciu still defends his work

At the opening of the hearing, Cardinal Angelo Becciu once again wanted to intervene, with some spontaneous declarations, to defend himself against the accusations made again in recent days. “I gave my life for the Holy See – he said, criticizing the way in which certain facts were used“ in a suggestive way ”, despite being“ far from reality ”- and I have always tried to defend it”. Compared to the 50 million euros that the Institute for Religious Works "donated to the Holy Father for the needs of the Apostolic See", instead considered as a "hidden reserve" by the Secretary of State, the cardinal clarified its use. Between 18 and 23 million, he said, were given to Vatican Radio; 8 million went to L'Osservatore Romano and between 27 and 33 million to nunciatures around the world. Finally, with respect to the checks by the Secretariat for the Economy and the "differences" he had with Cardinal George Pell, the former Substitute for General Affairs of the Secretariat of State specified that he never had "nothing to hide", that there were no "flaws" to discover: he only expressed perplexity with respect to the increase in costs linked to the reforms undertaken. In particular, he referred to the salaries that had risen in an unnatural way compared to practice, so much so that they paid 25,000 euros a month to the general secretary of the Spe and 12,000 to the personal secretary of the Australian cardinal.

 Once the indictment by the promoter of justice has been concluded, within the scheduled three appointments for next week (24, 25 and 26 July), there will be the usual summer break. Then, in September, the civil parties will begin to pronounce themselves: on the 27th afternoon it will be the turn of the lawyers who protect the interests of the Institute for Religious Works (IOR); on the 28th for the Secretary of State; and on the 29th for the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA); while the Financial Supervision and Intelligence Authority (ASIF) will present the filing of conclusions. From October, defense lawyers will divide the days of 5, 6, 19, 20, 26 and 27. As well as the afternoon of November 8, 9 and 10; up to the last three scheduled hearings: the afternoon of 4 December, 5 and 6.

Edited from Vatican News Italian