An Italian spy, a Vatican official and banker have been arrested on suspicion of corruption and fraud involving an alleged plot to bring 20 million euros in cash into Italy from Switzerland aboard a government plane.
3:04PM BST 28 Jun 2013
The arrests come just two days after Pope Francis appointed a special
commission to oversee the Vatican's
scandal-plagued bank, which is known officially as the Institute for
Religious Works.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, 61, was arrested after allegedly trying to bring 20
million euros in cash into Italy from Switzerland aboard an Italian
government plane, in an attempt to circumvent laws on importing cash.
The money allegedly belonged to three brothers from an Italian family of
shipping magnates, Paolo, Cesare and Maurizio D'Amico, who wanted it
returned to them, investigators said.
Msgr Scarano allegedly masterminded the plot with the help of a broker,
Giovanni Carenzio, and an Italian secret service agent, Giovanni Maria Zito,
who was suspended three months ago from Aisi, Italy's domestic intelligence
agency.
The operation failed because Mr Carenzio, the broker, reneged on the deal,
lawyers said.
Mr Zito, the intelligence agent, was promised a 400,000 euro "commission"
for his part in the plot but only received 200,000 euros.
Msgr Scarano, who was a bank teller before becoming a priest in 1987, was the head of accounts analysis in a Vatican agency which manages the assets of the Holy See and which is linked to the Vatican bank. He was suspended a month ago.
After his arrest yesterday he was taken to Regina Coeli (which translates as "Queen of the Skies"), a prison in central Rome.
"He will clarify everything to the magistrates in Rome," said Silverio Sica, his lawyer.
He is also under investigation in an alleged money-laundering plot in southern Italy.
Prosecutors in Salerno, south of Naples, have placed him under investigation for an alleged scam involving 560,000 euros from an account he held at the Vatican's bank, known officially as the Institute for Religious Works.
He has denied the allegations but was suspended from his Vatican job a month ago.
"They called him Monsignor 500 because of his penchant for opening up his wallet and showing that he only carried 500 euro notes," said Corriere della Sera, an Italy daily.
Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the Holy See would fully cooperate with Italian authorities in their investigation of the alleged plot.
The bank, described by Forbes as "the most secret bank in the world", has been plagued by scandals, including allegations of money-laundering, for years.
It was the majority shareholder in the Banco Ambrosiano, an Italian bank which collapsed in 1982 with huge losses.
Its chairman, Roberto Calvi, who was nicknamed "God's Banker", was found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London. His death was initially treated as suicide but the suspicion is that he was murdered, possibly by Mafia mobsters chasing money owed to them.
Pope Francis has made reforming the bank one of the priorities of the first few months of his pontificate.
Earlier this month he appointed a trusted prelate, Msgr Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca, to effectively be his eyes and ears inside the bank, with the task of overseeing its management.
Francis, who was elected in March after Pope Benedict XVI's shock retirement, has frequently criticised the excesses of capitalism.
He has called for a "poor Church" and said recently that "St Peter did not have a bank account".
Founded in 1942, the Vatican bank does not lend money but manages assets of seven billion euros in around 19,000 accounts held by Vatican departments, Catholic charities and priests and nuns around the world.
Msgr Scarano, who was a bank teller before becoming a priest in 1987, was the head of accounts analysis in a Vatican agency which manages the assets of the Holy See and which is linked to the Vatican bank. He was suspended a month ago.
After his arrest yesterday he was taken to Regina Coeli (which translates as "Queen of the Skies"), a prison in central Rome.
"He will clarify everything to the magistrates in Rome," said Silverio Sica, his lawyer.
He is also under investigation in an alleged money-laundering plot in southern Italy.
Prosecutors in Salerno, south of Naples, have placed him under investigation for an alleged scam involving 560,000 euros from an account he held at the Vatican's bank, known officially as the Institute for Religious Works.
He has denied the allegations but was suspended from his Vatican job a month ago.
"They called him Monsignor 500 because of his penchant for opening up his wallet and showing that he only carried 500 euro notes," said Corriere della Sera, an Italy daily.
Father Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman, said the Holy See would fully cooperate with Italian authorities in their investigation of the alleged plot.
The bank, described by Forbes as "the most secret bank in the world", has been plagued by scandals, including allegations of money-laundering, for years.
It was the majority shareholder in the Banco Ambrosiano, an Italian bank which collapsed in 1982 with huge losses.
Its chairman, Roberto Calvi, who was nicknamed "God's Banker", was found hanging beneath Blackfriars Bridge in London. His death was initially treated as suicide but the suspicion is that he was murdered, possibly by Mafia mobsters chasing money owed to them.
Pope Francis has made reforming the bank one of the priorities of the first few months of his pontificate.
Earlier this month he appointed a trusted prelate, Msgr Battista Mario Salvatore Ricca, to effectively be his eyes and ears inside the bank, with the task of overseeing its management.
Francis, who was elected in March after Pope Benedict XVI's shock retirement, has frequently criticised the excesses of capitalism.
He has called for a "poor Church" and said recently that "St Peter did not have a bank account".
Founded in 1942, the Vatican bank does not lend money but manages assets of seven billion euros in around 19,000 accounts held by Vatican departments, Catholic charities and priests and nuns around the world.
