A court in Rome said that a Vatican
prelate, a former Italian spy and a financial broker - each
jailed for allegedly trying to smuggle 20 million euros into
Italy - displayed "marked criminal behavior" and "common
ruthlessness" in its assessment Wednesday of a decision not to
release them.
Giovanni Maria Zito, a recently transferred agent in the
AISI domestic intelligence agency, financial broker Giovanni
Carenzio and Monsignor Nunzio Scarano were detained June 28 in a
probe over allegations they conspired to try to secretly
repatriate the cash from Switzerland, allegedly the fruit of tax
evasion by a family close to the prelate.
A judge rejected their request earlier this month to move
to house arrest.
In its assessment of that decision, the court said the
three showed the tendency to "manage people, institutions and
things for their own personal gain".
The arrests have been linked by the Italian media to past
probes into alleged irregularities at the Vatican Bank, IOR,
creating a thorn in the side of Pope Francis who has shown
eagerness to get the Vatican on the 'white list' of countries
with unimpeachable credentials by working with the Council of
Europe's Moneyval anti-money-laundering agency.
In its latest effort at transparency, IOR announced
Wednesday it had launched a new Internet site where it will
publish its annual balance sheet.
In a letter to the pope made public last week, Scarano
claimed he was innocent, pointing the finger at his bosses and
unnamed high-ranking cardinals he says protected them.