A former Vatican accountant known as "Mr 500" for his cash-rich lifestyle was acquitted by an Italian court today of corruption and attempted money-smuggling.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano was a chief accountant for APSA, the organisation that manages the Vatican's vast real estate portfolio, before his arrest in June 2013 for allegedly plotting to smuggle millions of euros in cash into Italy.
Investigators had accused Scarano of hatching a plot to use a private plane to repatriate USD 22 million that were untaxed from Switzerland, on behalf of a rich family of ship owners from Naples.
A court in Rome found Scarano innocent of corruption and attempted money-smuggling but guilty of making false accusations against one of his co-defendants, slapping him with a two-year suspended sentence.
The monsignor is still on trial in southern Italy in his home town of Salerno on separate charges of money-laundering through the Vatican's bank, the official name for which is the Institute of Religious Works (IOR).
After his arrest in 2013, the Vatican froze assets worth 2.2 million euros belonging to Scarano, who the press dubbed "Mr 500" for the large amounts of 500 euro notes he was reported to carry on him.
The prelate insisted he was innocent and wrote a letter to Pope Francis accusing his lay bosses of abusive activities which he said were covered up by some cardinals, who he claimed were being blackmailed.
When fresh charges were brought against him in 2014, Italian police seized his luxury 17-room apartment and blocked nearly nine million euros on current accounts linked to the senior Italian cleric.
In the second, ongoing trial, Scarano is accused of taking cheques marked "Donation for the Poor" and in return giving cash from accounts at the Vatican bank.
Police at the time said they had uncovered at least five million euros that Scarano "had at his disposal" and alleged he made extensive property investments in Salerno.
The prelate's lawyer, Silverio Sica, said his client used the money for charity and could not be responsible for the provenance of donations he received.
