VATICAN (UCAN): On October 13, a Swiss federal court issued an order granting Vatican investigators access to banking documentation connected to long-time Vatican investment manager, Enrico Crasso, Catholic News Agency reported on November 27.
This is the latest development connected with investigations into a questionable property development deal in London’s Chelsea district by the Holy See’s Secretariat of State in 2018.
The documents include the financial records of Az Swiss & Partners, the company set up by Crasso in 2014 after leaving Credit Suisse.
Although the company sought to block access to its records, Swiss judges observed that “when foreign authorities ask for information to reconstruct criminal asset flows, it is generally considered that they need the entirety of the relative documentation, to clarify which persons or legal entities are involved.”
Vatican prosecutors have been working with Swiss authorities since December last year. Tens of millions of euros in bank accounts have been frozen and banking documents and records handed over to Vatican prosecutors.
Crasso is reported to have been instrumental in introducing the Secretariat of State to businessman, Raffaele Mincione, through whom the secretariat purchased the London building in various stages between 2014 and 2018.
The Vatican noted that the pledging of Vatican assets on deposit in Swiss banks, including Peter’s Pence funds, to secure hundreds of millions of euros in loans from the same banks “represents strong circumstantial evidence that it represented a ploy to avoid making (the transactions) visible.”
The attempt to hide the loans off-book was unearthed by the Prefecture for the Economy, then led by George Cardinal Pell.
Earlier in November, Crasso defended himself and said the investments he made were “no secret.” In an October 4 interview with the Italian newspaper, Corriere Della Sera, he also denied managing “confidential” accounts.
Former prefect of the Congregation for Saints’ Causes cardinal, Angelo Cardinal Becciu, was number two in the Secretariat of State and his name is linked to the purchase of the property in London. He is accused of giving Crasso control over millions of euros of Vatican investment funds, including Peter’s Pence.
Crasso also manages Centurion Global Fund—an investment fund into which the Vatican invested millions of euros. Cardinal Becciu has denied all wrongdoing.
“Particular attention should be paid to the investments made in London and the Centurion fund, from which it is necessary to exit as soon as possible,” Pope Francis said in his letter to the Secretariat.
If that was not possible, the Vatican should at least deal with them “in such a way as to eliminate all reputational risks,” the pope noted.
