Vatican arrests broker involved in London property deal
Vatican authorities arrested and took into custody an
Italian broker who was involved in the Vatican Secretariat of State's majority
stake purchase of a property in London's posh Chelsea district.
In a statement released June 5, the Vatican said Gian Piero
Milano, Vatican chief prosecutor, and his deputy, Alessandro Diddi, authorized
the arrest of the broker, Gianluigi Torzi, after he was interrogated at the
Vatican prosecutor's office.
He was being held in a cell in the Vatican police barracks,
the statement said.
The arrest was "in relation to the well-known events
connected with the sale of the London property on Sloane Avenue, which involved
a network of companies in which some officials of the Secretariat of State were
present," the Vatican said.
Torzi faces charges of extortion, embezzlement, aggravated
fraud and money laundering. If found guilty, he faces up to 12 years in prison.
The arrest is the latest chapter in the saga related to the
London property which first came to light in early October when Vatican police
conducted a raid on offices in the Secretariat of State and the Vatican
financial oversight office.
The day after the raid, the Italian magazine L'Espresso
published an internal notice as well as leaked documents, alleging the raid was
part of the Vatican's investigation into how the Secretariat of State used $200
million to finance a property development project in London's Chelsea district
in 2014.
According to Vatican News, Torzi served as the middleman in
the Vatican Secretariat of State's eventual purchase of the majority stake in
the London property in 2018 from London-based Italian financier, Raffaele
Mincione.
In an interview published June 6 with Italian news agency
Adnkronos, Mincione denied any connection with Torzi's involvement in the deal
and said he "sold the property to the Vatican."
"I sold it to (Venezuelan Archbishop) Edgar Pena Parra,
to the sheriff put in place by other people to do this; I didn't sell it to
Torzi," Mincione said. "Torzi was commissioned by the Vatican to buy
the property for them."
Archbishop Pena Parra has served as substitute secretary for
general affairs in the Vatican Secretariat of State since 2018, succeeding
Italian Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, prefect of the Congregation for
Saints' Causes.
While the Vatican incurred debts from the purchase, Torzi
received an estimated 15 million euros for brokering the deal.
Several Vatican officials were investigated for their
involvement in the deal, including Msgr. Alberto Perlasca, the former head of
the Vatican Secretariat of State's administrative office.
In February, Vatican police seized documents and computers
at Msgr. Perlasca's home and office because of "what emerged from the
first interrogations of the officials under investigation and suspended from
duty" after the October raid.
In an interview with the Italian blog Stanze Vaticane
published June 8, Msgr. Perlasca denied his involvement in the purchase of the
property's majority stake and said he filed a complaint against Torzi for
fraud; he also alleged Torzi "made completely unjustified claims of an
obvious blackmailing nature."
The October raid also prompted questions regarding Cardinal
Becciu's involvement in the deal. The Italian cardinal defended the purchase,
saying that making property investments in Rome and abroad was a common Vatican
practice.
He also denied accusations that money from the annual
Peter's Pence collection, which is earmarked for helping the poor, was used in
the deal.
At a book presentation Oct. 29, Cardinal Pietro Parolin,
Vatican secretary of state, told journalists that the investment in the London
property was not as transparent as it should have been, and he hoped the
investigation would shed light on the matter.
"We are working to clear up everything. This deal was
rather opaque and now we are trying to clear it up," Cardinal Parolin
said, according to the Reuters news agency.
Pope Francis also weighed in on the investigation and echoed
Cardinal Parolin's sentiment on the property deal while speaking to journalists
Nov. 26 aboard his return flight from Japan.
The London property deal involved "things that don't
seem 'clean,'" the pope told reporters. "It was the internal auditor
general, who said, 'Look, here is something that doesn't add up.' He came to
me." He subsequently authorized the October raid after speaking with the
Vatican prosecutor.
The investigation, he said, was proof that financial reforms
that began under Pope Benedict XVI were working and that "the Vatican
administration has the resources" to report and investigate suspicious
activity.
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