FORMER VATICAN BANK CHIEF FACES RAPS FOR FRAUD

VATICAN CITY— A former president of the Vatican Bank has been ordered to stand trial for embezzlement and money laundering, the Vatican said, the highest-ranking Holy See financial official to be indicted.

A statement by the bank, officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR), said the former president’s lawyer was also indicted.

The two are Angelo Caloia, 78, who was president of the IOR from 1999 and 2009, and lawyer Gabriele Liuzzo, 94.

A third person who was originally under investigation, former IOR director general Lelio Scaletti, died several years ago.

Caloia and Liuzzo have both repeatedly denied wrongdoing. They were not immediately available for comment.

‘Unlawful conduct’

The bank said “unlawful conduct” by the three was carried out between 2001 and 2008 during “the disposal of a considerable part of the institute’s real estate assets.”

It said damages had been estimated to be more than 50 million euros and that the IOR would be seeking compensation for damages. The trial is due to start on March 15.

Reuters reported exclusively in December 2014 that the Vatican’s top prosecutor, Gian Piero Milano, had frozen millions of dollars in accounts held by the three men.—