Swiss seizure of Vatican deal financier funds confirmed

(ANSA) - ROME, JAN 7 - Swiss judicial authorities have refused a request by Italian financier Raffaele Mincione, a defendant in a Vatican trial over an allegedly inflated London property deal on Sloane Avenue, to free up some 48 million euro in funds deposited in Swiss banks and frozen a year ago, Holy See sources said Friday.
    Swiss media sources have put the amount even higher, at some 60 million euros.
    The trial resumes on January 25.
    On November 19 Msgr Alberto Perlasca was cleared of corruption in the controversial property deal.
    The former official of the Vatican's Secretariat of State did not knowingly take part in the "numerous fraudulent operations proved by the promotor of justice's office," said Vatican judge Paolo Papanti Pelletier.
    On October 6 a Vatican court dropped the case against Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the highest-ranked Catholic cleric ever to face charges of financial crimes.
    Becciu, who in 2020 resigned as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, was accused of embezzlement and abuse of office in relation to when he was the Vatican's Substitute of the Secretariat of State. (ANSA).