		<div class="wpcnt">
			<div class="wpa">
				<span class="wpa-about">Advertisements</span>
				<div class="u top_amp">
							<amp-ad width="300" height="265"
		 type="pubmine"
		 data-siteid="111265417"
		 data-section="2">
		</amp-ad>
				</div>
			</div>
		</div><p>An Italian monsignor who was fired from his job as a Vatican accountant has been acquitted of corruption.</p>
<p>Prosecutors alleged that Monsignor Nunzio Scarano was involved in a plot to use a private plane to try to smuggle €20 m from Switzerland into Italy in a tax-evasion scheme.</p>
<p>They suspected the money had been deposited in Switzerland to avoid Italian taxes.</p>
<p>A lawyer for Scarano, Silverio Sica, confirmed Italian news reports that a Rome court acquitted his client of corruption but convicted him on a slander charge and gave him a suspended two-year sentence.</p>
<p>The monsignor had denied any wrongdoing.</p>
<p>Prosecutors also said that a former intelligence agent and a financial broker were part of the plot along with Scarano.</p>
<p>The ex-agent, who allegedly had rented a plane to fly to Switzerland to get the money, was never able to carry out the mission, prosecutors contended.</p>
<p>During the trial, the cases involving the ex-agent and the broker were separated from Scarano’s case.</p>
<p>The slander charge stems from prosecutors’ accusations that the monsignor falsely accused the former agent of stealing a €200,000 check.</p>
<p>Prosecutors contended that in reality Scarano had given the check to the ex-agent as part of the scheme.</p>
<p>Separately, Scarano is on trial in Salerno, Italy, accused of using his Vatican bank accounts to launder money.</p>
<p>Italian prosecutors said the once highly secretive Vatican bank amply co-operated with them in that case.</p>
<p>Pope Francis has been forging ahead with efforts to ensure the Vatican’s bank and other financial offices use internationally recognised good practices.</p>
<p>Scarano was arrested by Italian police in the money-laundering probe two years ago, put under house arrest but later set free.</p>
<p>At the time, Italy’s financial police said the monsignor was suspected of transferring millions of euro in fictitious charity donations from offshore companies through his accounts at the Vatican’s bank.</p>
<p>Mr Sica said then that Scarano had taken donations from people he thought were acting in good faith to fund a home for the terminally ill.</p>
<p>The lawyer conceded Scarano used the money to pay off a mortgage.</p>
			<div style="padding-bottom:15px;" class="wordads-tag" data-slot-type="belowpost">
				<div id="atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed9e4912ac5">
					<script type="text/javascript">
						window.getAdSnippetCallback = function () {
							if ( false === ( window.isWatlV1 ?? false ) ) {
								// Use Aditude scripts.
								window.tudeMappings = window.tudeMappings || [];
								window.tudeMappings.push( {
									divId: 'atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68ed9e4912ac5',
									format: 'belowpost',
								} );
							}
						}

						if ( document.readyState === 'loading' ) {
							document.addEventListener( 'DOMContentLoaded', window.getAdSnippetCallback );
						} else {
							window.getAdSnippetCallback();
						}
					</script>
				</div>
			</div>
Discover more from London Glossy Post
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
