Photograph: Vatican Pool/Getty ImagesPhotograph: Vatican Pool/Getty ImagesShare
Raffaele Mincione is seeking to clear his name in the British courts after he was convicted by a Vatican criminal tribunal last year for his role in the Vatican’s €350m investment in the former Harrods warehouse. He is asking the British high court to declare he acted “in good faith”. In his written opening statement in London, Peña Parra provided a detailed play-by-play of the frenzied meetings, WhatsApp messages and negotiations in late 2018 when the property changed hands from a fund controlled by Mincione to a holding company controlled by Torzi.
Peña Parra barely mentioned Mincione in his written statement, since he only joined the Vatican as “substitute” in the secretariat of state in October 2018, a month before the property passed to Torzi. It is an unusual outcome given evidence that emerged during the Vatican trial that Perlasca had acted without authorisation in signing the contracts with Torzi and then was coached, manipulated and threatened by two mysterious women to change his story once Vatican prosecutors began investigating.
“I had put trust in the officials of the administrative office, and I had never expected this kind of conduct. I felt betrayed,” he said in his prepared statement.
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Source: 7NewsSydney - 🏆 16. / 63 Read more »