a cardinal sentenced to five and a half years in prison for financial fraud

Ten people were on trial for suspicion of fraud, embezzlement or money laundering as part of a sprawling affair which revealed the opacity of the management of the Vatican’s finances.

He is the highest-ranking Catholic Church official to appear before the Vatican criminal court. Cardinal Angelo Becciu, former close advisor to Pope Francis, was sentenced by the civil justice of the City-State to five and a half years in prison for fraud, Saturday December 16.

The 75-year-old cardinal was on trial alongside nine others for fraud, embezzlement, abuse of power, money laundering, corruption and extortion. At the heart of the trial, the purchase for 350 million euros of a luxury building in London between 2014 and 2018 as part of the investment activities of the Holy See, in a very opaque manner and with a heavy financial loss to the key for the Vatican: between 140 and 190 million euros.

The instruction had described an imbroglio “almost inextricable” leveraged hedge funds, banks, credit institutions, natural and legal persons. This acquisition at an inflated price highlighted the reckless use of St. Peter’s Pence, the large annual collection of donations intended for the pope’s charitable actions.

8,000 euros fine

The so-called affair “of the London Building” dealt a serious blow to the reputation of the Church and of Pope Francis, who has multiplied reforms to clean up the finances of the Holy See and fight against fraud. In addition to the creation of a Secretariat for the Economy in 2014, the Argentine sovereign pontiff supervised the investments and activities of the Vatican Bank, in particular through the closure of 5,000 suspicious accounts.

The 75-year-old cardinal was also fined 8,000 euros, while the Vatican prosecutor’s office had requested a sentence of 7 years and 3 months in prison for Mgr Becciu, accompanied by a fine of more of 10,000 euros. “We respect the verdict but we will certainly file an appeal”declared the cardinal’s lawyer.

Former number two in the Secretariat of State, the main body of the central government of the Holy See at the heart of this transaction, Bishop Becciu retains his title of cardinal but was dismissed from all his functions in September 2020.