ITALY
Reuters
* Trio accused of trying to bring 20 million euros from Switzerland
* Vatican prelate was already involved in another investigation
* Arrests come after Pope sets up commission to look into bank (Adds details from lawyer, latest charges, Vatican response)
By Philip Pullella
ROME, June 28 (Reuters) – A senior Vatican cleric suspected of trying to help rich friends bring millions of euros into Italy illegally was arrested on Friday as part of an investigation into the Vatican bank, police sources and his lawyer said.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, 61, worked as a senior accountant in the Vatican’s financial administration and is already involved in another investigation by magistrates in southern Italy.
He was arrested in a parish in the outskirts of Rome and taken to the city’s Queen of Heaven jail, his lawyer Silverio Sica told Reuters. Also arrested in the investigation were a member of Italy’s secret services and a financial broker.
Sica said Scarano was accused of being involved in an attempt to help friends bring 20 million euros ($26 million) into Italy from Switzerland by plane in league with the secret service agent and the financial intermediary.
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