4 probed inc Chaouqui in facemask case

(ANSA) - ROME, DEC 4 - Four people including former Vatileaks defendant Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui have been placed under investigation in a probe into contracts worth some 72 million euros to buy 801 million facemasks from China during the first wave of the pandemic, Rome prosecutors said Friday.
    Possible charges include influence peddling and receiving stolen goods, they said.
    The others probed are an engineer, Andrea Vincenzo Tommasi, the head of a firm at the centre of the probe; Mario Benotti, a journalist currently on leave of absence; and an official, Antonella Appulo.
    Former PR expert Chaouqui was found guilty in the "Vatileaks 2" trial over leaked Vatican financial documents and got a suspended term of 10 months.
    She wrote a book about her experience.
    In the book, titled "Nel nome di Pietro" (In The Name of Peter), Chaouqui tells of her time as a member on the now-defunct COSEA commission set up to advise Pope Francis on the reform of the Holy See's economic and administrative structure, and of her work alongside Mons. Vallejo Balda, who was also found guilty in the trial and sentenced to 18 months in jail.
    During the trial, Balda admitted leaking confidential documents to journalist Gianluigi Nuzzi, who wrote a book called "Merchants in the Temple" (Via Crucis in the Italian version).
    The prelate also spoke of "exchanging" documents with journalist Emiliano Fittipaldi, who wrote a book called "Avarice".
    Both books detailed waste, mismanagement and excessive expenses racked up by Vatican officials.
    In Chaouqui's book, she includes a series of documents from her work with the COSEA commission, and also tells of a letter she wrote to Pope Francis asking permission to be relieved from her responsibility of keeping Vatican state secrets to be able to tell "everything" at trial - a letter to which the pope didn't respond. (ANSA).