The highest-ranking Catholic Church official ever to stand trial in a Vatican criminal court.
The Vatican’s prefecture of economics, headed by Cardinal George Pell, was reportedly the first to uncover the investment-related irregularities. Pell and Becciu have long argued over the Australians’ efforts to make the Vatican’s balance sheets more transparent and accountable. Cardinal Angelo Becciu was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to five and a half years in prison.
Pope Francis sacked Becciu from his next post in 2020 on charges of nepotism, but he remains a cardinal. He was found guilty of embezzlement for transferring money and contracts to companies and charities controlled by his brothers on their home island of Sardinia.
In 2013, Becchiu was the second-in-command there when he began investing in a fund run by Italian financier Raffaele Mincione, buying about 45% of a building at 60 Sloane Avenue, in an upmarket area of the city.
Another accusation was that he hired Cecilia Marogna, a self-proclaimed security analyst, also originally from Sardinia, to take part in a secret project to help a nun kidnapped in Mali. She received €575,000 from the Secretariat of State in 2018-2019. Italian police said Marogna spent most of the money on luxury clothes and health spas. Both she and Becciu were found guilty of aggravated fraud related to the transfer of the money, and Maroña was ordered to return the money to the Vatican.
Apart from Marogna and Becciu, a total of 10 defendants were charged with offences including fraud, abuse of office and money laundering. All have denied guilt. Enrico Crasso, a banker who managed funds for the Secretariat of State, was found guilty of money laundering and sentenced to seven years in prison. Fabrizio Tirabassi, who worked at the Secretariat, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison.
In conclusion, the court ordered Becciu, Mincione, Tirabassi and Crasso to pay a total of more than 100 million euros to the Vatican. Nicola Squillace, a lawyer who worked with both Crasso and Tirabassi, was sentenced to a year and 10 months’ probation. René Bruelhart, a Swiss lawyer and former president of the Vatican’s Financial Intelligence Unit, and its director, Italian Tommaso Di Ruzza, were found guilty of administrative omission and sentenced to pay small fines.
