Prosecutors seek stretch in jail for cardinal Angelo Becciu

Judges recommend the 10 defendants accused of an array of financial crimes serve sentences totalling more than 73 years.

Angelo Becciu is a former papal chief of staff and arch nemesis of a raft of financial reforms led by the late Australian cardinal George Pell. Picture: AFP

Prosecutors in Rome have asked that the disgraced Cardinal, Angelo Becciu, be sentenced to seven years and three months in prison and forced to pay more than €14m ($23m) in fines for embezzlement as the so-called Vatican “trial of the century” enters its final chapter.

Two and a half years after the chief prosecutor, Alessandro Diddi, opened proceedings in the Holy See, judges have recommended that the 10 defendants accused of an array of financial crimes serve sentences totalling more than 73 years.

If found guilty, Angelo Becciu, a former papal chief of staff and arch nemesis of a raft of financial reforms led by the late Australian cardinal George Pell, will be the first cardinal to be convicted in a criminal trial within the Vatican.

Pell and Libero Milone, the first independent auditor general appointed to the Holy See, had accused the “old guard” within the curia of undermining Pope Francis’s attempts to root out financial corruption in the Vatican. At the time, sources suggested the same “old guard” had exploited Pell’s absence while he fought historic sex charges in Australia to jettison the reform program.

“These were not reforms for the Pope: they were wanted by the Pope for the 1.4 billion Catholics around the world who donate money to their church or leave their property and who deserve to know what the church was doing with their gifts” a source told The Australian.

At the heart of the megatrial is evidence that millions in Vatican funds were funnelled into speculative commercial investments, including acquisition of a €350m property, 60 Sloane Square, in London’s fashionable Chelsea. A former Harrod’s showroom, it was to be converted into luxury apartments until the deal turned sour, forcing the Vatican to pay out millions to extricate itself and which has since been sold at an estimated €140m loss.

As the Vatican tribunal heard closing arguments this week, lawyer Roberto Lipari, representing the Vatican Bank also demanded that the defendants be compelled to repay more than €690mn, originally earmarked for Church needs by the Pope, and ultimately misspent in further reckless speculative investments. A further payment for “moral and reputational damage” to the Holy See of nearly €1m was also requested.

Lipari told the court that the trial had revealed a murky financial world in which the Secretariat of State, operated without any control or oversight and became a vehicle for fraud and personal wealth building.

He said business was conducted in a way designed solely to benefit a monsignor who was himself an expert in canon law but who worked with an accountant who had no experience in investment.

Lipari accused Becciu and fellow defendants – who all insist they are innocent – of embarking on a campaign for personal enrichment, even considering investing in oil extraction in Angola, a country blighted by accusations of human rights abuses. They used Holy See funds, he said, as if it were a “cash machine” which had to say yes to all requests.

“We’ve seen the use of money without due diligence, extortion and blackmail, insiders who sympathised with the blackmailers, (and) huge economic resources managed without taking into account the constraints imposed by the donors.”

“The very notion that (Angola) was even contemplated highlights the lack of (moral and ethical) oversight along with damage to the environment in a country accused of not respecting human rights and with ties of French arms dealers.”

In addition to the Secretariat of State, Lipari was also critical of the Vatican’s so-called financial watchdog body which had originally been set up under Pope Benedict XVI and which originally have the green light to the London deal. The former president of this body, a Swiss lawyer Rene Bruhlart, and his number two, an Italian lawyer, Tommaso Di Ruzza, are among the 10 defendants in the trial.

Judges now have until the end of the year to reach their verdict and rule on guilt or innocence. Italian newspapers reported that the Vatican City State has a small prison, consisting of just three cells and that it is unclear whether the sentences would be carried out in Italy if the judges rule in favour of the prosecution.