[ad_1]
In the 59-page document, the investigators’ summary is that “the Secretary of State finances the London operation with lines of credit from Credit Suisse and Banca della Svizzera Italiana for $ 200 million” guaranteed by alms funds. ” amounts that can reach up to 454 million euros ”.
The revaluation of the London building According to Promoter of Justice, Gian Piero Milano, and his deputy, Alessandro Diddi, the fund managers carried out a substantial accounting revaluation of the building (which housed Harrods’ office on Sloane Avenue). , does not seem to find a valid economic reason ”. The value of the building increases as well. And the deal involved “many companies whose financiers we cannot know.”
The alleged blackmail At this point, according to Vatican investigators, Gutt Sa, a Luxembourg company owned by Gianluigi Torzi, enters the scene, “with contracts signed by Monsignor Alberto Perlasca as lawyer for deputy Monsignor Edgar Pena Parra. Gutt Sa acts as agent of the Secretariat” . of the State for the management of the property. And the Secretariat verbally agrees to pay Gutt Sa an amount of 3% equal to 10 million euros. This agreement is not formalized in any contract ”. The word of Perlasca and Tirabassi, an employee of the Secretary of State, who claims to have been the victim of blackmail would suffice: “An extortion perpetuated by Torzi.” But the researchers believe that this version could “hide a well-orchestrated device, with the complicity of Tirabassi and, perhaps, other people.”
Financial transaction at a loss Meanwhile, the result is disastrous. “The shares of the fund lose 18 million euros and the operation of Gutt Sa generates a loss of 100 million. Compared to a disbursement of 250 million, the Secretariat owns a property that would be worth 260 on paper but to ensure ownership of which in the end it will have to bear a cost of 363 million ”.
Hands everywhere Cardinal Angelo Becciu enters the game through his secretary, Monsignor Mauro Carlino. From what the magistrates underline “the particular ease with which he moves in the upper echelons of the State hierarchy, the incessant activity that he carries out with personalities from the world of finance to carry out new business initiatives.” The Vatican magistrates also register Tommaso Di Ruzza, director of the Financial Intelligence Authority, that is, who has to monitor the accounts of the Holy See to avoid dark maneuvers “, but who had an unclear role in the London affair . In a perceived way anomalies of the operation “, despite having had correspondence with the subjects involved.
New investments Meanwhile, according to the Financial Times, not only is there the Sloane Avenue building, but the Vatican Secretariat of State has invested another 100 million pounds in luxury apartments in London. According to the British financial newspaper, which questioned the role of Cardinal Becciu (then substitute for the Secretary of State) in these investments, it would be “a portfolio of first-rate apartments in and around Cadogan Square, in Knightsbridge , one of the most expensive residential addresses in London. ” The Financial Times, however, admits that “the new documents would not constitute a crime” although they “shed more light on the financial activities of the Secretary of State.”
The suspects of the Rome Prosecutor Meanwhile, the Rome Prosecutor’s Office would also have opened a line of investigation after the Vatican’s request to verify whether the crimes were also committed on Italian territory. This time, however, the focus would be on the behavior of financial intermediaries that the Holy See had long relied on, from Gianluigi Torzi to Raffaele Mincione.
Money-value controls against money laundering are in place Meanwhile, today begins in the Vatican the visit of the team of the Committee of Experts of the Council of Europe on the evaluation of measures to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, as part of the fifth round of evaluations (“Fifth Evaluation Round “). ), agreed in 2019, to which all the jurisdictions belonging to the Moneyval Group are progressively submitted. This was announced by the Vatican press office. This evaluation phase “has as its main object of interest the effectiveness of the legislative and organizational tools adopted in recent years by jurisdictions to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing.”
[ad_2]
