Di Ruzza and former AIF president René Brülhart have been charged with abuse of office for allegedly failing to stop an agreement that “should have been considered suspicious,” according to Vatican prosecutors.
The prosecutors argue that the AIF would have known that a payment of 15 million euros ($15.8 million) made to businessman Gianluigi Torzi, a sum allegedly received through extortion, was not legitimate.
When Torzi brokered the last part of the London property deal, he sold the Secretariat of State the 30,000 majority shares in the holding company through which the building was purchased, while retaining the 1,000 shares with voting rights.
In around four hours of questioning on Wednesday, Di Ruzza explained why he did not step in to stop the last part of the deal.
Di Ruzza said that the decision about what to do about Torzi was up to the Secretariat of State, not the AIF, and the secretariat decided the best path forward was to exit the contract with Torzi.
He said that he did not report the payment to Vatican prosecutors because of a lack of sufficient evidence of suspicious activity under Vatican and international norms, though his office went on to conduct “in-depth investigations” of the transaction.
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