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    Former head of Vatican bank sentenced to jail for embezzlement

    Angelo Caloia, 81, becomes highest-ranking Vatican official convicted of financial crime

    The first hearing of the trial of Angelo Caloia in 2018.
    The first hearing of the trial of Angelo Caloia in 2018. Photograph: Vatican Media/EPA
    Reuters in Vatican City

    Last modified on Thu 21 Jan 2021 18.06 EST

    A former head of the Vatican bank has been convicted of embezzlement and money laundering and sentenced to nearly nine years in prison.

    Angelo Caloia, 81, was president of the bank – officially known as the Institute for Works of Religion (IOR) – between 1999 and 2009. A Vatican court sentenced him on Thursday to eight years and 11 months in jail after he became the highest-ranking Vatican official to be convicted of a financial crime.

    Also convicted were Gabriele Liuzzo, 97, and his son Lamberto Liuzzo, 55, both Italian lawyers who were consultants to the bank. The three were charged with participating in a scheme in which they embezzled money while managing the sale of Italian real estate owned by the bank between 2001 and 2008.

    Angelo Caloia
    Angelo Caloia during a court hearing. Photograph: Vatican Media/AFP/Getty Images

    They allegedly siphoned off tens of millions of euros by declaring far less than the true amount of the sale.

    Gabriele Liuzzo was given the same sentence as Caloia, while Lamberto Liuzzo was given a sentence of five years and two months. All denied wrongdoing during the trial, which began in 2018.

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