(ZENIT News / Rome, 04.07.2024).- The controversial case of the sale of the Sloane Avenue building in London, which has already witnessed the conviction of ten defendants in the Vatican Court, has once again made the headlines with a new judicial process in the United Kingdom’s Hight Court of Justice. Financier Raffaele Mincione, sentenced in the Vatican to five and a half years of prison for crimes that include money laundering and corruption, has filed a civil lawsuit seeking to clear his name and affirm that he acted “in good faith” in the transactions with the Holy See.
The complex web began when Mincione, introduced in the Vatican by financial consultant Enrico Crasso, proposed the acquisition of the London property as an alternative investment after the failure of an oil project in Angola. The operation, initially presented by Cardinal Angelo Becciu, resulted in the purchase of a building, former headquarters of a Harrod’s warehouse, whose overvaluation caused significant losses to the Holy See.
Monsignor Edgar Peña Parra, Substitute of the Vatican Secretariat of State, will testify in the trial as the Vatican’s representative. Peña Parra, who in 2020 described the business as a “trap” and a “via crucis,” is to be interrogated on July 4, 5, and 8. His testimony is crucial, given that others who are involved, such as Cardinal Becciu and Crasso, have already been convicted and will not be able to testify.
Lawyers of the Secretariat of State have prepared an extensive defense of more than 80 pages, underscoring Mincione’s bad faith and the gravity of the crimes investigated in the Vatican. They argue that the civil lawsuit presented by Mincione in 2020 was a maneuver to divert attention from the investigations against him and point out the confiscation of almost 100 million euros of the financier’s assets by the Swiss authorities.
The Vatican’s defense points out that the statements requested by Mincione omit deliberately the critical question of the property’s inflated price. Instead, they seek to focus on the affirmation of good faith in the transactions, avoiding the central problem of over-pricing and the losses suffered by the Holy See.
This trial in the United Kingdom’s High Court adds another layer to the intricate case that has already revealed a “sad history of corruption and abuse of power,” according to the Vatican. Although the conclusions of the trial might not be directly applicable in London, the Vatican defense hopes that the documentary evidence and testimonies, collected throughout the extensive ecclesiastical trial, will be taken into account.
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