Vatican arrests Italian middleman over London property deal

Institute for the Works of Religion

Source: Vatican News

The Vatican's Gendarmerie police on Friday arrested an Italian middleman who was part of a controversial property deal in London involving the Vatican.

"Today the Office of the Promoter of Justice of the Vatican Court, at the end of the interrogation of Mr Gianluigi Torzi, who was assisted by his personal lawyers, issued an arrest warrant against him," the Holy See Press Office said in a statement on Friday.

"The order, signed by the Promoter of Justice, Professor Gian Piero Milano, and his Adjutant, Advocate Alessandro Diddi, was issued in relation to the well-known events connected with the sale of the London property on Sloane Avenue, which involved a network of companies in which some officials of the Secretariat of State were present," the Press Office said.

Torzi has been "charged with various counts of extortion, embezzlement, aggravated fraud and money laundering, crimes for which the Vatican Law provides for sentences of up to twelve years imprisonment."

At present, Torzi is being detained in the barracks of the Gendarmerie Corps.