The Vatican Supreme Court, composed by H.E. Cardinal Mambertì, H.E. Cardinal Sandri and H.E.
Cardinal Versaldi, on the 5th of March 2022, confirmed the confiscation of about € 25 mln, which had been ordered back on 9 th July 2020 by the Sole Judge and thereafter confirmed on 21st January 2021 by the Vatican Tribunal against Mr. Gabriele LIUZZO, involved, together with Angelo CALOIA and Lelio SCALETTI, in the disposal process of IOR real estate assets.

It shall be recalled that Angelo CALOIA and Gabriele LIUZZO were convicted in the first instance for the crimes of embezzlement and aggravated misappropriation against the Istituto per le Opere di Religione and ordered to compensate the damages caused to the IOR by their conduct, together with the son of Gabriele LIUZZO, Mr. Lamberto LIUZZO, also convicted of money laundering.

Parallel to the criminal proceedings, the office of the Promoter of Justice, represented by Professor Gian Piero Milano, by Professor Alessandro Diddi, by Professor Roberto Zannotti and by Professor Gianluca Perone, initiated the procedure for the application of the confiscation, a measure enacted in the Vatican legal system with a rule that entered into force in 2018. It marked the conclusive step of the adaptation process of the Vatican legislation to the most modern legal and regulatory frameworks for the prevention and repression of assets of illicit origin.

With today’s ruling, the Vatican Supreme Court applied the new provisions for the first time, confirming the Promoter of Justice Office work.

Both procedures follow a careful internal review of some previous transactions that the new management of IOR wanted to carry out to assess the real situation. It was followed by a complaint to the Vatican judiciary, which the IOR dutifully presented to react to the abuses suffered and to protect the Church assets that it manages.

The amount confiscated today have already been brought to justice, because it has already been seized in recent years in Vatican and in Switzerland.