CNA has reported that during his tenure as “sostituto,” Becciu used loans from several Swiss banks, including BSI and Credit Suisse, to at least partially finance the controversial purchase of a building at 60 Sloane Avenue in London.
Becciu said Friday that the Vatican “found nothing” on him regarding the London building transaction, and other accusations “have no criminal offence.”
“Out of a spirit of obedience and out of love for the Church and the pope, I accepted his request to step aside,” he said. “But I am innocent and I will prove it. I ask the Holy Father to have the right to defend myself.”
A new report by the Italian weekly L’Espresso showed that Becciu gave financier Enrico Crasso, a former manager of Credit Suisse, control over millions of euros of Vatican investment funds from the Secretariat of State and from the papal charity Peter’s Pence.
Crasso is also the manager of Centurion Global Fund, an investment fund used by the Secretariat of State, with links to two Swiss banks investigated or implicated in bribery and money laundering scandals. As CNA reported, this is the same fund in which the Vatican Secretariat of State invested millions of euros, including with money donated to Peter’s Pence.
Reports show that the fund’s investments lost money while its managers, who include Crasso, recouped millions in fees. Centurion investment fund has been under investigation by Vatican authorities since December 2019.
According to L’Espresso, Crasso directed Vatican money into highly speculative funds with low return margins and based in tax havens.
The weekly said that Becciu also used Peter’s Pence money and funds from the Italian bishops’ conference to finance projects owned and operated by three of his brothers.
L’Espresso reported that Becciu obtained two loans from the Italian bishops’ conference to pay out two non-repayable loans of 300,000 euros each to Spes Cooperative in 2013 and 2015.
Spes Cooperative is the operational arm of the diocesan Caritas of Becciu’s former diocese of Ozieri in Sardinia. The owner and legal representative of Spes Cooperative is Becciu’s brother, Tonino.
In 2018, Becciu gave a third sum to Spes Cooperative of 100,000 euros from Peter’s Pence, of which he had control as “sostituto.”
There appear to be questions around whether these funds were used for their ostensible charitable purposes.
Subscribe to our daily newsletter
At Catholic News Agency, our team is committed to reporting the truth with courage, integrity, and fidelity to our faith. We provide news about the Church and the world, as seen through the teachings of the Catholic Church. When you subscribe to the CNA UPDATE, we'll send you a daily email with links to the news you need and, occasionally, breaking news.
As part of this free service you may receive occasional offers from us at EWTN News and EWTN. We won't rent or sell your information, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
The bishop of Ozieri and president of the diocesan Caritas, Corrado Melis, said in a statement addressed to Becciu Sept. 24 that the diocesan Caritas “has never been the beneficiary” of undue or illegitimate favor, and that it has “never used a single penny” of funds given for charitable works for other purposes.
Becciu himself denied any guilt, saying that he “may have made a mistake out of too much love for my diocese, but I do not see the crime. I am ready to shout the truth,” Il Fatto Quotidiano reported.
A second instance of Becciu working in the favor of a brother reportedly occurred when he was papal nuncio in Angola and later in Cuba, when the carpentry company of Becciu’s brother, Francesco, was hired to furnish and repair several churches in the two countries.
Becciu also reportedly helped to bring in customers for Angel’s srl, a specialty food and beverage distributor, of which another brother, Mario, is majority partner and legal representative.
The Becciu family put out a statement Friday saying that news reports that members of their family received financial favors from their brother, the cardinal, were “unfounded and maliciously false, in particular for the imaginative and unprovable references to alleged donations from Peter’s Pence.”
Reportedly, the large proceeds of the companies of the Becciu brothers were later reinvested in low-risk safe-haven equity, holding and financial packages. Income generated from these investments was then reinvested in funds previously invested in by the Secretariat of State, such as the Centurion Fund.