Police discovered that 927 transport documents for bread were actually created in summer 2021, just a few weeks prior to the start of the Vatican trial. They are also back-dated from 2018.
Becciu sues — and loses
Last week, an Italian court rejected a defamation suit filed by Cardinal Becciu against three journalists from the Italian newspaper L’Espresso.
Becciu was ordered by the GEDI Publishing Group to pay 40,000 Euros in court costs. L’Espresso was owned at the time the complaint was filed.
L’Espresso’s 2020 reporting had, according to the lawyer of the cardinal, cost Becciu his chance at being pope. He sued to get 10 million euros from the courts.
This was Becciu’s second lawsuit that was lost this month. In November, a northern Italy judge ordered that the cardinal pay more than 20,000 euros each in court expenses to Monsignor Alberto Perlasca and Perlasca’s friend. They were being sued for “persecutive acts.”
The judge called Becciu’s lawsuit “abused of the procedural instrument” and ordered the cardinal pay Perlasca 9,000 euros in damages.
Becciu could appeal against the decisions.
Perlasca’s day at court
Monsignor Perlasca was the former head of administration at Secretariat of State. This was his first testimony during the Vatican’s financial trial. His questioning continued through Nov. 30.
Perlasca was once a suspect in the financial investigations. However, he was never arrested after voluntarily giving information to investigators during extensive interrogation in 2020 and 2021. Perlasca is now the star witness for prosecution.
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Perlasca wanted to have the majority of his pre-trial interrogations removed from evidence during trial. Perlasca argued that due process wasn’t followed because he didn’t have a lawyer present when questioned.
Giuseppe Pignatone (president of the Vatican court) denied Perlasca’s plea, excluding only one part of an interrogation that began on Aug. 31, 2020.
Pignatone warned Perlasca to be careful about his answers, as he contradicted previous statements during questioning Nov. 24, 25 and 25 — or risk being accused of perjury
Perlasca denied that he had any power to make decisions about the Secretariat of State regarding the purchase of the London Building, which was the central investment in the trial.
The prosecutor however pointed out that Perlasca was a signer to the “framework arrangement” which transferred management of the London property management from Raffaele Minicione to Gianluigi Torzi. Both defendants in this case.
Perlasca stated that the “current substitute,” or No. 2. At the Secretariat of State Archbishop Edgar Pena Parra told Perlasca to sign it.