Vatican: Cardinal Becciu sentenced to five years and six months imprisonment

Cardinal Angelo Becciu was sentenced to five years and six months in prison at the end of the trial on the management of funds of the Secretariat of State and the sale of the London palace. The decision was announced Saturday afternoon by the president of the Vatican Court, Giuseppe Pignatone, at the reading of the sentence. Becciu, former substitute for General Affairs and former Prefect for the Causes of Saints - an office of which he was deprived three years ago by Pope Francis along with the prerogatives of the cardinalate - was accused of embezzlement, abuse of office and subornation of witness. Against him the promoter of justice Alessandro Diddi had asked for a sentence of seven years and three months imprisonment. For him also a fine of 8,000 euro and perpetual disqualification from public office. This is the first time a cardinal has been convicted inside the Vatican, for any reason (this forum is not canonical, but 'civil' even if criminal in nature). "We reaffirm Cardinal Angelo Becciu's innocence and we will appeal," Becciu's defender, lawyer Fabio Viglione, said at the reading of the sentence. "We respect the sentence, but we will certainly appeal," he reiterated.

René Brülhart and Tommaso Di Ruzza, respectively former president and director of Aif, were fined EUR 1,750. For Enrico Craso, former financial advisor of the Secretariat of State, the Court imposed a sentence of seven years' imprisonment and a fine of EUR 10,000, disqualified from public office. For the financier Raffaele Mincione 5 years and 6 months, plus 8 thousand euro, disqualification from public office. For the former employee of the administrative office of the Secretariat of State, Fabrizio Tirabassi, 7 years' imprisonment and 10,000 euro fine, disqualification from public office. For the lawyer Nicola Squillace, with extenuating circumstances, one year and 10 months imprisonment, sentence suspended for five years. For the broker Gianluigi Torzi, six years and six thousand euro disqualification, plus subjection under Article 412 of the Penal Code to special supervision for one year. Three years and nine months for manager Cecilia Marogna, and temporary disqualification for the same period. A fine of EUR 40,000 for her company Logsic Humanitarne Dejavnosti. Many of the prosecution's offences were 'upgraded'.

The proceedings that began two and a half years ago, following the outbreak of the scandal that caused a perfect storm within the Holy See, with the removal of many top figures and new reforms in the finances, which are still in the process of being finalised, have come to an end (for now). The proceedings took exactly twenty-nine months, 85 hearings, an average of over 600 hours spent in the courtroom, 69 witnesses heard, 124,563 pages on paper and in computer devices and 2,479,062 analysed files submitted by the prosecution, 20,150 pages including annexes filed by the defence, 48,731 by civil parties. The trial - the longest and most complex that has ever been held within the walls of the Lion - has been defined as the 'century trial' by the media - especially the Anglo-Saxon media - that accompanied the phases preceding its starting, on 27 July 2021, with attention waning over the course of the 85 hearings (held sometimes five or six times a month or in the middle of summer) and rekindled before the various plot twists, the twists and turns, that have marked and sometimes changed the course of events in this tourbillon of colourful characters, luxury real estate, recorded phone calls, video projections, dictated memoirs, over-the-top WhatsApp chats.

Fourteen defendants on 49 counts: four companies and ten individuals. The companies are Logsic Humitarne Dejavnosti based in Slovenia; Prestige Family Office Sa; Sogenel Capital Investment and HP Finance LLC. The last three are owned by Enrico Craso, for some twenty years financial consultant to the Vatican Secretariat of State; the first is owned by Cecilia Marogna, the Sardinian manager accused of receiving funds from the Holy See for the release of Catholic hostages in the hands of Islamic terrorists and then spending them on travel and luxury products. She is therefore on trial on charges of embezzlement. Crassus is accused of crimes of embezzlement, corruption, extortion, money laundering and self-laundering, fraud, abuse of office, forgery of a public deed committed by a private individual, and forgery of a private contract. Together with them, the defendants include René Brülhart and Tommaso Di Ruzza, respectively the former president and former director of AIF (the Financial Intelligence Authority, now ASIF) accused of abuse of office, the former, and embezzlement, abuse of office and breach of official secrecy, the latter. Then Monsignor Mauro Carlino, personal secretary to two deputies, (extortion and abuse of office); financier Raffaele Mincione (embezzlement, fraud, abuse of office, embezzlement and self money laundering); lawyer Nicola Squillace, (fraud, embezzlement, money laundering and self money laundering); Fabrizio Tirabassi, a former employee of the Secretariat of State, (bribery, extortion, embezzlement, fraud and abuse of office); broker Gianluigi Torzi, (extortion, embezzlement, fraud, embezzlement, money laundering and selflaundering). Many of these crimes were allegedly committed in concert. Finally, the list of defendants also includes Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, former substitute of the Secretariat of State, against whom proceedings have been initiated, as provided for by law, for the crimes of embezzlement, abuse of office, and subornation.

Most of the crimes in question - Vatican News notes in a reconstruction - took place, according to the prosecution, in the course of a purchase by the Secretariat of State of a luxury property in Sloane Avenue, in the heart of London. An operation that proved to be highly speculative and that would have lost the Vatican coffers at least 139 million euros, after a purchase worth 350 million pounds and a resale for less than 186 million. In fact, the Secretariat of State has joined as a civil plaintiff and asked for 117.818 million in damages. This is accompanied by the claims for damages of the four other civil parties that have appeared in the trial: the IOR, which has asked for 207,987,494 euro; the APSA, 270,777,495 euro; the ASIF and Monsignor Alberto Perlasca, former head of the administrative office of the Secretariat of State, both of whom are referring to the equitable assessment of the panel of judges for the quantification of damages.