A lawyer acting for Silvio
Berlusconi on Tuesday denied newspaper reports that Francesca
Chaouqui, one of the five defendants in the so-called Vatileaks
2 trial, had contacted the former premier or his brother Paolo
in relation to the case.
"President Berlusconi has never had any contact with
Francesca Chaouqui, or indications from anyone, of requests made
by her," Niccolò Ghedini said in a statement.
"Besides, it would have been impossible to make demands
since there is no possible link between President Berlusconi and
'Vatican affairs' or the Vatican bank," he continued.
In regards to Paolo Berlusconi, Ghedini acknowledged that
he had met Chaouqui "occasionally" in social situations, but
said the reports of contacts in relation to Vatileaks 2 were
"unfounded".
Chaouqui, a PR expert, is on trial alongside investigative
journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, Monsignor
Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda and his former assistant Nicola Maio
for allegedly leaking confidential Holy See documents.
Vallejo Balda and Chaouqui were both members of the
now-defunct COSEA commission set up to advise Pope Francis on
reform of the Holy See's economic-administrative structure.
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