Cardinal Bertone ‘under investigation’

The Vatican has reportedly launched a financial investigation into former Secretary of State, Tarcisio Bertone. The German tabloid Bild said this week that Cardinal Bertone is suspected of irregularities regarding €15 million (£12.1m) in Vatican accounts. Quoting unofficial Vatican sources, the newspaper says the money was apparently intended for a tele­vision production company, Lux Vide, with which the former Secretary of State has links.

There was no mention of this investigation in a report presented at a press conference on Monday by the director of the Vatican’s Financial Information Authority (AIF), René Brülhart. The AIF is tasked by Pope Francis with preventing the financing of terrorism and money-laundering, Mr Brülhart told the conference that suspected cases of money-laundering went up from six in 2012 to 202 in 2013. He forwarded six of these cases to Vatican prosecuting authorities.

Bild questioned Mr Brülhart on the “Bertone case”, and he replied: “I will neither confirm nor deny investigations against Bertone. I will not be saying anything regarding individual cases.”

The Vatican spokesman Fr Federico Lombardi asserted that any possible investigation had not yet been passed to judicial authorities. He said in a statement: “In relation to the news currently circulating, I can tell you that there is currently no investigation of a criminal nature involving Cardinal Bertone.”

Speaking to Adnkronos, Cardinal Bertone denied the German newspaper’s allegations outright. “The agreement between the IOR and Lux Vide was discussed and approved by the cardinals’ supervisory commission and by the superintendence board, at the meeting held on 4 December 2013, as the meeting’s proceedings show,” he stated.