Former Vatican official Angelo Becciu jailed for five-and-a-half years over corruption scandal

The charges focused on the purchasing of a showroom in London's Sloane Square formally used by Harrods, which was bought for €140m more than its market value - defrauding the Vatican.

FILE - In this Feb. 9, 2017 file photo, Mons. Giovanni Angelo Becciu presides over a eucharistic liturgy, at St. John in Lateran Basilica, in Rome. Lawyers for the once-powerful cardinal have accused Vatican prosecutors of being ...prisoners to their completely shattered theory" in closing arguments of a two-year trial. Becciu is on trial along with nine other people in..a case..that is focused on the Vatican...s 350 million-euro investment in a London property. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, File)
Image: Giovanni Angelo Becciu. File pic: AP
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The pope's former deputy secretary of state and nine others have been found guilty in the Vatican's biggest financial corruption scandal.

Cardinal Angelo Becciu was convicted of embezzlement on Saturday and sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison.

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.

The charges against the defendants included embezzlement, corruption, abuse of office, fraud, witness tampering and extortion - with the trial revolving mostly around a luxury building in Chelsea.

Becciu was the pope's chief of staff, serving as a key diplomat between 2011 and 2018.

His lawyer, Fabio Viglione, said he respected the sentence but would appeal against it.

The two-year-long trial, led by jury president and former anti-mafia prosecutor Giuseppe Pignatone, centered on the management of the funds of the secretariat of state and the sale of a property on London's Sloane Avenue paid for with donation funds.

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The former Harrods showroom was bought for €350m (£300m), while the real value was just €210m (£180m). The botched real estate deal defrauded the Vatican and caused a €140m loss (£120m).

This landmark probe exposed the Vatican's financial dysfunction and was considered an indication of Pope Francis' desire to fix the money mismanagement.

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Cardinal Angelo Becciu will go to trial with 9 others on charges of embezzlement and abuse of office:Angelo Becciu was indicted together with nine other prelates, financiers, Vatican officials on charges of embezzlement and abuse of office: he is the first cardinal to go to trial.6 July 2021 in the photo the cardinal with the Pope Francis. Photo by: Stefano Spaziani/picture-alliance/dpa/AP Images
Image: Cardinal Angelo Becciu with the pope in 2021. Pic: AP

Italian journalist Massimiliano Coccia, who first discovered the scandal which led Pope Francis to fire Becciu in 2020, told Sky News this is an unprecedented verdict in Vatican's history.

Becciu filed a defamation suit against Mr Coccia claiming that his ruined reputation has eliminated his chances of becoming pope.

However, an Italian civil court recently rejected it. Becciu was then forced to pay Coccia's legal costs.

Becciu is also being probed for conspiracy to commit crime in relation to a social cooperative run by his brother in the cardinal's native Sardinia.

According to messages intercepted by Italy's Guardia di Finanza police, Becciu told his family in a chat that Pope Francis wanted him dead days before this trial started.