The former head of the Vatican Bank, Angelo Caloia has been found guilty of money laundering by the Vatican court and sentenced to 9 years in prison. As reported by GreatGameIndia earlier, bankrupted by sexual abuse cases, US Roman Catholic Church is one of the biggest beneficiary of taxpayer-backed Coronavirus aid with more than $1.4 billion
Angelo Caloia now becomes the highest-ranking Vatican official to be convicted of a financial crime, almost eight year, 11 month jail term.
Caloia was president of the bank known as Institute of Works of Religion (IOR) from 1999 to 2009. He and two lawyers who consulted for the bank were charged with embezzling money while managing the sale of Italian real estate owned by IOR between 2001-2008, allegedly declaring less than the actual amount of the sale.
The Vatican court also convicted the two lawyers. Gabriele Liuzzo, 97, received the same sentence as Caloia. Liuzzo’s son, Lamberto Liuzzo, age 55, was handed a five years, two month term.
The Vatican bank has long been plagued by financial scandals.
In September 2020 Giovanni Angelo Becciu, one of the Vatican’s powerful cardinals, resigned from his post amid financial scandal.
As reported by GreatGameIndia earlier, bankrupted by sexual abuse cases, US Roman Catholic Church is one of the biggest beneficiary of taxpayer-backed Coronavirus aid with more than $1.4 billion
Long before the pandemic, scores of dioceses faced increasing financial pressure because of a massive rise in clergy sex abuse claims.
Millions from the aid went to dioceses that have invested money into huge settlements or pursued protection against bankruptcy because of clergy sexual abuse cover-ups.
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