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Politicians among 48 arrested in huge Italian bust on ‘Ndrangheta mafia, hundreds of millions in cash seized
21 Jan, 2021 16:17
FILE PHOTO: Italy's Antimafia police © AFP / ROBERTO SALOMONE
Anti-mafia police carried out sweeping early-morning raids against Italy’s most powerful mafia, the ‘Ndrangheta, on Thursday, arresting 48 people and placing the leader of a political party under investigation.
Officers from the Direzione Investigativa AntiMafia (DIA) immediately jailed 13 people, while 35 were placed under house arrest, with multiple politicians, low-level mob bosses and businessmen among those detained, according to local media.
The crackdown on the organized crime syndicate, based in Calabria, southern Italy, primarily targeted the economic arm of its operations, which prosecutors said had been exposed in its money-laundering and attempts to buy political influence.
“This investigation makes clear what we have been saying for decades. The ‘Ndrangheta shoots less and has more and more ties with business and politics,” prosecutor Nicola Gratteri, told reporters.
As part of the mafia crackdown, police have opened an investigation into Lorenzo Cesa, head of the small Christian Union of the Centre political party, over his alleged procurement of contracts for the mafia in return for favors.
DIA officers raided the former MEP’s house in Rome at dawn on Thursday, according to la Repubblica. The politician has resigned as head of the centrist party with immediate effect, saying he had been advised that the investigation relates to events dating back to 2017.
Gratteri said that a local head honcho of the ‘Ndrangheta was also among the arrests, claiming that police raids on the suspect’s house had uncovered “hundreds of millions in cash which they have not yet finished counting, dozens of Rolexes and luxury cars.”
The operation follows the opening of a “maxi trial” (2nd story on link) of 355 suspected mobsters and their associates, which began in Calabria last week and is the country’s largest mafia trial for at least 30 years.
With a reported 6,000 members in Calabria, and more in other countries, the ‘Ndrangheta has superseded Sicily's Cosa Nostra mafia as Italy’s most powerful criminal group, and one of the most influential in the world.
Ex Vatican bank chief gets 9 years for embezzlement
This is the first jail sentence issued by a Vatican court in relation to financial crimes
Published: January 21, 2021 21:53
AFP
The former president of the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) Angelo Caloia is seen during the first hearing
of his trial at the Vatican, May 9, 2018.
Rome: A former head of the Vatican bank, Angelo Caloia, was on Thursday found guilty of embezzlement and money laundering and sentenced to eight years, 11 months in prison.
It was the first-ever jail sentence issued by a Vatican state court in relation to financial crimes - a milestone in Pope Francis' ongoing efforts to clean up Vatican governance.
Caloia led the bank, officially known as the Institute for Religious Works (IOR), from 1989 to 2009. The 81-year-old Italian was tried over corrupt real estate deals.
He was accused of conspiring with others to make millions from the below-market sale of more than 20 IOR properties in Italy, and laundering the proceeds in Switzerland.
The court established that the defendants "pocketed some of the money paid by buyers, or in any case money belonging to IOR ... for a total of around 19 million euros ($23 million)", the Vatican said in a statement.
Prosecutors claimed the illicit gains were worth 59 million euros in total, but judges did not find evidence of wrongdoing for some of the 29 deals under scrutiny.
Co-defendants were 97-year-old Gabriele Liuzzo, a lawyer, and his son Lamberto, 55, who were sentenced to eight years and eleven months, and five years and two months respectively.
Gabriele Liuzzo was convicted like Caloia of money laundering and embezzlement, while his son was tried and sentenced only over money laundering charges.
The three men were hit with fines ranging from 8,000 to 12,500 euros, and ordered to pay damages of around 23 million euros to the IOR and its real estate division SGIR.
One of Caloia's lawyers, Rosa Palavera, told AFP that Thursday's ruling would be suspended given that it was still subject to an appeal - meaning that he does not risk going to jail immediately.
A former IOR director general, Lelio Scaletti, was a fourth suspect in the affair, but the case against him was dropped after he died in 2015.
The scandal came to light in 2014, after Caloia and Scaletti's bank accounts were frozen following a criminal complaint from the IOR. But the trial did not start until May 2018.
Other suspect deals
The IOR, founded nearly 80 years ago, has been embroiled in a long list of political and financial scandals, gaining a reputation as a money laundering haven for Italian politicians and mafia groups.
It has cleaned up its act over the last decade, as part of Vatican financial transparency reforms pursued by Francis and his predecessor Benedict XVI.
For more of the sordid history of the Vatican Bank, read "In God's Name", a book by award-winning investigative reporter David Yallop. He proposes that John Paul (the 1st), was about to clean up the horrid mess just before he suddenly died.
Vatican prosecutors are currently investigating another suspect real estate deal, concerning a luxury property in central London, which may lead to a criminal trial.
And earlier this week they announced the imminent start of an embezzlement trial against Cecilia Marogna, known as "the Cardinal's Lady" for her links with disgraced Cardinal Angelo Becciu. She billed the Vatican around 500,000 euros for informal intelligence work, but is suspected of using part of the money to splurge on luxury goods.
Marogna was hired by Becciu, who was fired from a powerful Vatican job in September by the pope, after he accused him of syphoning off Vatican charity funds to help his siblings.
Becciu has professed his innocence, and since his dismissal he has not been publicly charged with any crimes.
Of course, one would think the Vatican to be filled with godly men with haloes around their heads. But such is very far from the truth.
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