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The cardinal who oversaw the team at the center of a Vatican investigation into a suspicious London property deal made additional investments of up to £ 100 million in other luxury apartments in London, documents show.
Documents including emails and financial accounts seen by the Financial Times show that Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who Pope Francis forced to resign last week, invested Vatican funds in a portfolio of ultra-low flats in Cadogan Square, Knightsbridge and the surrounding areas. , one of the most expensive residential in London.
The revelations of additional acquisitions of high-end properties in London decided by the 72-year-old Italian cleric come as Vatican magistrates are investigating a separate € 350 million investment in a large building in Chelsea called 60 Sloane Avenue, which the Cardinal Becciu also supervised when it was conducted in 2014. The investigation has resulted in police raids on Vatican offices, seizures of documents, suspensions of various Holy See officials and an arrest.
The new documents, which do not suggest any wrongdoing, shed more light on the financial activities of the Secretariat of State, the Vatican’s central administration office whose mission is also to invest hundreds of millions of euros in donations from Catholics.
Cardinal Becciu was the second in command of the Secretariat between 2011 and 2018, a role that made him the third most influential man in the Holy See after the Pope. On Friday, he said that Pope Francis had asked him to resign and promised to defend himself against all allegations of mismanagement of Vatican funds.
“The Pope told me that he no longer had faith in me because he received a report from the magistrates that I committed an act of misappropriation,” Cardinal Becciu said last week. “I accepted your request to step aside. But I am innocent and I will prove it ”. He said the allegations were independent of the Secretariat’s investment in London property.
Documents show that the cardinal oversaw a development that involved buying three apartments at 7-9 Cadogan Square for a total of £ 19.25 million and spending £ 1.25 million on redecorating and refurbishing buildings, including £ 39,000 on chimneys, £ 52,000 on floors and £ 7,000 worth of wallpaper, shows a document outlining the renovations. The Secretariat also purchased 25 Cadogan Square, as well as apartments located at 28-29 Hans Place and 130 Pavilion Road.
Cardinal Becciu: “I accepted your [the Pope’s] Request to step aside. But I am innocent and I will prove it ”© Reuters
Acquisitions amounted to £ 95.75 million. That total was financed in part by mortgages from the now-defunct Swiss bank BSI and Rothschild, according to the details of the loan agreements seen by the FT.
The development plan was managed by a British company called Sloane and Cadogan, with the aim of selling the refurbished apartments at a profit. The properties were purchased by the Secretary of State through four Jersey-incorporated companies called Charybdis, Princeps, Civitas and Valerina, according to corporate documents.
Sloane & Cadogan, who are not suspected of wrongdoing, declined to comment.
Cardinal Becciu did not respond to e-mailed questions. He previously said that investing in London property was an accepted Vatican practice and a responsible use of money entrusted to the Secretariat.
In 2017, three years after the initial investment, two Vatican officials reporting to Cardinal Becciu, Alberto Perlasca and Fabrizio Tirabassi, informed Sloane and Cadogan that a different Swiss-based investment firm called Valeur would receive part of the fees charged. for managing and developing the properties, in accordance with the correspondence seen by the FT.
Both Perlasca and Tirabassi have been suspended by Vatican authorities as part of the ongoing investigation into the investment at 60 Sloane Avenue. That investment was separate and not tied to the Cadogan Square developments.
In a letter dated March 2017 seen by the FT, executives at Sloane and Cadogan complained to the two now suspended Vatican officials that Valeur had “little or no experience in the demanding UK superprime property market. . . Therefore, it is not clear how they could move forward and add value to the fund’s investments. “
Sloane & Cadogan executives eventually turned down Perlasca and Tirabassi’s request to insert Valeur into the project, according to people with knowledge of the exchange, and the deal never materialized.
Valeur told the FT that his executives had never met with Cardinal Becciu and had “a limited number of contacts strictly related to technical matters” with Mr. Perlasca when the Secretariat requested that he be appointed “investment adviser.”
Valeur said he was not subject to any investigation by the Vatican or any other legal authority, had not received any requests for information and had not been charged with any crime.
Mr. Perlasca did not respond to emailed questions about the reason for his request to insert Valeur into London property management. When Cardinal Becciu was asked last week if he or the Secretary of State had done business with Valeur, he said: “I have never heard of these men.”
