Daily Times

A Vatican tribunal has convicted a cardinal of embezzlement and sentenced him to five-and-a-half years in prison. Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the first cardinal prosecuted by the Vatican criminal court, was absolved of several other charges and nine other defendants received a combination of guilty verdicts and acquittals among the nearly 50 charges brought against them during a two-and-a-half-year trial. Becciu’s lawyer, Fabio Viglione, said he respected the sentence but would appeal against it. Prosecutor Alessandro Diddi said the outcome “showed we were correct”. The trial focused on the Vatican secretariat of state’s 350 million euro (£300 million) investment in developing a former Harrod’s warehouse into luxury flats. Prosecutors alleged Vatican monsignors and brokers fleeced the Holy See of tens of millions of euros in fees and commissions and then extorted the Holy See for 15 million euros (£12.9 million) to cede control of the building.