He walks briskly, he is polite and has a
reassuring smile. The monsignor with the briefcase who made the Curia his second home is remembered mainly for his nickname “Don 500” which he earned because of his fondness for carrying large banknotes.
Deep down, Mgr. Nunzio Scarano never stopped nurturing his passion for banks and business, after he left the Bank of American and Bank of Italy – where he worked until 1983 – to the cocooned environment of the Administration of the Patrimony of the Apostolic See (APSA), the body that manages the Holy See’s property.
He joined APSA having been ordained a priest in 1987 at the age of 35. His vocation to the priesthood came late. Just like Mgr. Renato Dardozzi, another money oriented prelate, engineer and trusted financial advisor to former Secretary of State Agostino Casaroli.
61-year old Scarano’s life trajectory is certainly unusual. He took his vows in 1986, when he was still a bank employee in his native city of Salerno, in southern Italy.
A year later he was ordained priest. He went on to become one of APSA’s “big fishes” and became a distinguished figure even outside the Vatican walls thanks to his participation in a number of public meetings on the role of Catholics in society.
Scarano came under the public opinion spot light in early June this year, when the head of analytic accounts at APSA was added to the list of people under investigation by Salerno’s prosecutors, on money laundering charges.
The accusation came after Scarano was investigated for using a sum of money in donations in a personal IOR account to pay off a mortgage in Italy.
To do so he allegedly asked 56 friends in and around the Salerno area to accept €10,000 each in return for a cheque to an Italian bank account, supposedly to pay off the debt accumulated by an estate agency which owned some properties in the centre of Salerno.
But these cheques were only intended as a smokescreen.
When the cheques were handed out, the men who supposedly “donated” the money were reimbursed immediately, in cash.
Scarano was suspended by his Vatican superiors in recent days and has denied all accusations from the start.
But Rome’s prosecutors are trying to find out where Scarano’s substantial financial assets and property came from (he has two IOR bank accounts in his name).
Last Friday, he was arrested amid accusations he had smuggled 20 million Euros in cash from Switzerland into Italy. He apparently did it on behalf of Paolo, Cesare and Maurizio D’Amico, owners of an Italian shipping company.
These facts were brought to light following the inquiry carried out by Rome’s prosecutors into the activities of the IOR. These are serious accusations, particularly for a prelate, hence his nickname “Don 500”.
Mgr. Scarano is currently being held in the Regina Coeli prison, awaiting trial.
The similarity between Mgr. Scarano and Fr. Evaristo Biasini, nicknamed “Don Bancomat” (Fr. Cashpoint) is uncanny.
Biasini, a former priest and bursar for the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood and a friend of Diego Anemone (a construction firm owner from Rome who was at the centre of investigations), was involved in some shady financial activities.
And he mentions the IOR in some notes he took about the various operations carried out.
But now the ways of the IOR do not seem infinite any longer.