ITALY
The New York Times
By RACHEL DONADIO
Published: June 28, 2013
ROME — Italian police on Friday arrested a prelate, a financial broker and an agent of the Italian Secret Service on corruption charges as part of a complex plot in which the priest — who is already under investigation for money-laundering involving the Vatican Bank — allegedly tried to repatriate millions of euros from Switzerland to Italy in a private plane.
The priest, Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, had been suspended this spring from a position at one of the Vatican’s main financial departments. Those arrested were charged with fraud, corruption and slander as part of a broad investigation tied to the famously secretive Vatican Bank.
Prosecutors allege that the broker and the secret service agent helped the monsignor bring 20 million euros, or $26 million, into Italy from Switzerland in a private jet, the ANSA news agency reported. It said that the 20 million euros belonged to “some friends of the monsignor.”
The Vatican did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
A Vatican official said that Monsignor Scarano had been suspended from his position as an accountant at APSA, a department that oversees the Vatican’s real estate holdings, after prosecutors in Salerno opened a separate investigation into money-laundering. The official indicated that the suspension was a sign that the Vatican was stepping up its internal vigilance.
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