Former Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, now under indictment in the Vatican for bribery, abuse of office and embezzlement.
The murky world of Vatican finances is to be brought under the spotlight again towards the end of July when a Vatican tribunal begins hearing charges brought against former cardinal and powerful chief of staff of the Vatican secretariat of state, Giovanni Angelo Becciu and nine other business associates and Vatican officials are facing corruption charges in connection with a $225 million property deal in London in 2014.
The corruption charges relate to the use of the Vatican slush fund known as "Peter's Pence", which is the recipient of charitable donations throughout the Catholic world and which is supposed to be used by the Pope for charitable works. As former effective number 2 in the Vatican, Becciu had access to this largely unregulated account. I appears that he, like so many Vatican officials before him with access to large, unregulated slush funds, couldn't resist the temptation to plunge his grubby hands deep into the coffer.
the businessman Raffaele Mincione, the owner of the London property in question - the former Harrods shop in Chelsea - is also charged with money-laundering and embezzlement, as is Gianluigi Torzi who was enlisted to help push through the deal. He is also charged with extortion. Readers may recall how last April, Torzi successfully applied to Southwark Crown Court to have a freeze on his bank accounts lifted, Judge Tony Baumgartner citing the lies and inconsistencies in statements from Vatican officials as his reason for unfreezing the account. The Vatican subsequently applied to have Torizi extradited from the UK to face charges of embezzlement.
Also endicted with Becciu is Cecilia Marogna, known in the Italian press as “the cardinal’s lady”, who readers may remember, in October 2020, was arrested in Milan and charged with embezzlement. Marogna, had been employed as a 'security advisor' by Becciu, for which she was allegedly paid more than €500,000. She is also now charged with embezzling Vatican funds.
Becciu's former personal secretary, Monsignor Mauro Carlino, is also charged with extortion and abuse of office, as is another of Becciou's former assistants in the secretariate of state, Fabrizio Tirabassi who allegedly received payments and commissions from the Swiss bank, UBS. Others caught up in the scandal are René Brülhart, the former president of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority, or AIF, and its former director Tommaso di Ruzza who are charged with abuse of office; Enrico Crasso, who managed Vatican finances for 27 years and now faces charges of embezzlement, corruption, extortion, money laundering, fraud, abuse of office and falsifying public documents.
In a shocking parallel with organised crime, the person heading up the Vatican tribunal investigating this scandal is Giuseppe Pignatone, recruited by Pope Francis specifically because of his record as a prosecutor in Rome noted for his anti-Mafiosi activities.
It's beginning to look as though Pope Francis' former number 2 and head of his secretariate of state, sat at the centre of a money-laundering crime syndicate under the Pope's very nose. Keep reading for more exposure as the stinking cesspit of financial corruption and the centre of money-laundering activities and self-aggrandizement that is the Vatican under Pope Francis and his two immediate predecessors is uncovered and given a stir. A clothes-peg on the nose is highly recommended.
One can almost feel sorry for Pope Francis, who inherited the deeply corrupt and sexually depraved Vatican, bequeathed him by Pope Benedict XVI and Pope John-Paul II. It remains to be seen whether he can reform the system before the system reforms him and the Vatican reverts to is age-old tradition of casual, self-serving corruption and self-aggrandizement which made it such an attractive employer for those for whom honesty and personal integrity were just for other people.
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