The Vatican‘s landmark fraud and embezzlement trial resumes after a long break on Tuesday with the beleaguered prosecution buoyed by two favourable decisions in related cases by Swiss and Italian courts.
The trial, in which defendants are accused of fraud and other crimes around the Vatican’s 350 million euro ($400 million) purchase of a luxury building in London, is still mired in procedural wrangling.
Tuesday’s hearing, only the sixth since the trial started amid much fanfare in July, will likely do little more than settle several more preliminary issues, meaning the trial won’t get going in earnest until February.
At the last hearing on Dec. 14 – which lasted only 10 minutes – a frustrated court president Giuseppe Pignatone said he hoped the preliminary phase could end soon so the hearings could be held more frequently.
Four of original 10 defendants were temporarily removed from the indictment in October after Pignatone found fault with the original investigation. He ordered the prosecution to go back and repeat questioning of the four because procedural steps designed to protect the defendants was not followed the first time around.
At Tuesday’s hearing, the prosecution is expected to announce which charges it intends to either keep or drop against each of the four.
All 10 defendants, including a once-powerful Vatican cardinal, have denied wrongdoing.
Lawyers for two Italian brokers for the Vatican’s investment in the London building – Raffaele Mincione and Gianluigi Torzi – have insisted that their clients cannot get a fair trial in the Vatican.
Mincione helped the Vatican make the original investment in 2014. In 2018, when the Vatican felt it was allegedly being fleeced by Mincione, it turned to Torzi to try to take total control of the building.
The Vatican has charged Mincione with fraud, embezzlement and money laundering. Torzi is charged with fraud, extortion and money laundering.
This month, the prosecution got a much-needed boost from two foreign courts, which, while ruling on related cases, effectively rejected defence assertions about alleged lack of fairness for their clients in the Vatican judicial system.
Torzi is in London fighting extradition requests by both Italy and the Vatican for alleged financial crimes. In a decision published this month, Italy’s supreme court rejected assertions by Torzi’s lawyers attacking the credibility of the Vatican court.
Earlier in January, a Swiss court rejected a request by Mincione to unblock funds that the Vatican prosecutors had asked be frozen while the trial continues. Mincione’s lawyers had also cited what they said were defects in the Vatican judicial system.
The Vatican’s Secretariat of State sank more than 350 million euros into the London investment. The Vatican is now in the final stages of selling the building at a reported loss of 100 million euros.
The most prominent defendant is Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a former deputy secretary of state who was sacked by Pope Francis for alleged nepotism before the trial began. Becciu was deputy secretary of state in the early phases of the deal.
($1 = 0.8818 euros)
(Reporting by Philip Pullella; Editing by Frances Kerry)
EDMONTON – RCMP say a second suspect has been arrested in the killing of an Alberta county worker.
Mounties say 28-year-old Elijah Strawberry was taken into custody Friday at a house on O’Chiese First Nation.
Colin Hough, a worker with Rocky View County, was shot and killed while on the job on a rural road east of Calgary on Aug. 6.
Another man who worked for Fortis Alberta was shot and wounded, and RCMP said the suspects fled in a Rocky View County work truck.
Police later arrested Arthur Wayne Penner, 35, and charged him with first-degree murder and attempted murder, and a warrant was issued for Strawberry’s arrest.
RCMP also said there was a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of Strawberry, describing him as armed and dangerous.
Chief Supt. Roberta McKale, told a news conference in Edmonton that officers had received tips and information over the last few weeks.
“I don’t know of many members that when were stopped, fuelling up our vehicles, we weren’t keeping an eye out, looking for him,” she said.
But officers had been investigating other cases when they found Strawberry.
“Our investigators were in O’Chiese First Nation at a residence on another matter and the major crimes unit was there working another file and ended up locating him hiding in the residence,” McKale said.
While an investigation is still underway, RCMP say they’re confident both suspects in the case are in police custody.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
RICHMOND, B.C. – The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says the 26-year-old son of a man found dead on British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast has been charged with his murder.
Police say 58-year-old Henry Doyle was found badly injured on a forest service road in Egmont last September and died of his injuries.
The homicide team took over when the BC Coroners Service said the man’s death was suspicious.
It says in a statement that the BC Prosecution Service has approved one count of first-degree murder against the man’s son, Jackson Doyle.
Police say the accused will remain in custody until at least his next court appearance.
The homicide team says investigators remained committed to solving the case with the help of the community of Egmont, the RCMP on the Sunshine Coast and in Richmond, and the Vancouver Police Department.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
VANCOUVER – Mediated talks between the union representing HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver and its employer, Transdev, have broken off without an agreement following 15 hours of talks.
Joe McCann, president of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724, says they stayed at the bargaining table with help from a mediator until 2 a.m. Friday and made “some progress.”
However, he says the union negotiators didn’t get an offer that they could recommend to the membership.
McCann says that in some ways they are close to an agreement, but in other areas they are “miles apart.”
About 600 employees of the door-to-door transit service for people who can’t navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since last week, pausing service for all but essential medical trips.
McCann asks HandyDART users to be “patient,” since they are trying to get not only a fair contract for workers but also a better service for customers.
He says it’s unclear when the talks will resume, but he hopes next week at the latest.
The employer, Transdev, didn’t reply to an interview request before publication.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
