The Anglo-Italian financier accused of defrauding the Vatican in a London property deal has said he feels like he is “trapped in a Dan Brown novel”.
Raffaele Mincione advised the Holy See to invest in a property on Sloane Avenue, Chelsea. The Vatican later withdrew from Mincione’s investment fund, which owned the property, but eventually paid €350 million for the former Harrods’ warehouse, sold last year for a reported £186 million to an investment firm.
Mincione is one of 10 people, including Cardinal Angelo Becciu, former sostituto or number two at the Secretariat of State, who are accused of embezzling Vatican funds.
Mincione told The Sunday Times: “After three years of studying everything, I am still confused about the reasons for this trial.” The financier, who brought a parallel case against the Vatican in England, added: “I’m assuming the Pope has been fed the wrong information.”
Judges of the Vatican Court were ignorant of modern financial practices, he observed: “They didn’t understand what a fund was or an introduction fee. I had to explain it.”
The final phase in what has been billed as “the trial of the century” is now underway as Vatican judges hear from lawyers for the defendants.
Representatives of the security analyst Cecilia Marogna – who received thousands of euros from Becciu allegedly to help broker a deal to release a kidnapped nun – disputed claims that she spent part of this on luxury hotels. Lawyers dismissed as a “scam” the spreadsheet displayed on Italian television purporting to show Marogna’s expenses.
They said she could not be accused of embezzlement, because Vatican law classifies this as an offence only for employees of the Holy See, while Marogna was hired as an external contractor.
The court also heard from lawyers for Fabrizio Tirabassi, a former employee of the Secretariat of State accused of embezzlement in the London transaction.
His lawyer said: “No one won a euro in this story,” adding: “Bad investment does not constitute a crime.”
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