Vatican court publishes reasons for verdicts in London property case

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Cardinal Angelo Becciu was convicted of financial malfeasance and sentenced to more than five years in prison based on "full and irrefutable evidence" that he was investing Vatican money in a highly speculative real estate deal with "total disregard" to Vatican policies, the Vatican court said.

The three-judge panel of the Vatican City State tribunal Oct. 30 released its formal written explanation of how the guilty verdicts against Cardinal Becciu and eight other defendants were reached in December 2023. The publication of the explanation is standard practice months after Vatican or Italian trials.

The case revolved around the Vatican's investment in a property in London's chic Chelsea district. But the way the deal was structured and restructured ended up costing the Vatican more than $200 million. Cardinal Becciu was the No. 3 official at the Vatican Secretariat of State when the property deal, using money invested by the secretariat, was first made in 2014.

Cardinal Becciu was sentenced to five years and six months in prison on two counts of embezzlement and one of aggravated fraud; he maintains his innocence and remains free pending appeal. Eight other defendants were found guilty of various crimes associated with the London deal.

The tribunal's explanation of the trial and verdict, which ran more than 800 pages, included a long section explaining that to be guilty of embezzlement a defendant did not have to take or use money for his or her personal gain; the charge -- "peculato" in Italian -- also could include "an 'illicit use'" of church assets.

The first section of the explanatory document also contained responses to the repeated claims by the defendants' lawyers that the trial failed to meet European Union standards for fairness. The three judges denied the charges at length and insisted that as a sovereign state, the Vatican has its own laws, which were followed.

"There is no question that the Vatican legal system recognizes the principle of due process, the principle of the presumption of innocence and the right of defense, which are indeed expressly provided for by the current rules," they said.

The document said that in finding nine of the defendants guilty of a variety of crimes, the judges did not rely on the testimony of Msgr. Alberto Perlasca, who worked under Cardinal Becciu and was initially under investigation. He ended up cooperating with the Vatican prosecutor, but the three judges said he was not a reliable witness.

Nine of the 10 defendants were found guilty on various charges. All plan to appeal their convictions.