Vatican City, Oct 14 (AP) A Vatican court today convictedthe former president of the pope's children's hospital ofdiverting some USD 500,000 in donations to renovate acardinal's flat and gave him a one-year suspended sentence.
The original charges against ex-hospital presidentGiuseppe Profiti had been embezzlement. But the courtconvicted him of a lesser offense of abuse of office after thedefense argued the money was intended as an investment tobenefit the hospital.
The three-judge tribunal absolved Bambino Gesu PediatricHospital's former treasurer, Massimo Spina. Notably, neitherthe cardinal who benefited from the renovation nor thecontractor who was apparently paid twice for doing the workwere charged.
More than anything, the trial exposed how CardinalTarcisio Bertone, the Vatican's former secretary of state,bent Vatican rules to get his retirement apartment ready afterPope Francis was elected in 2013 and named a new secretary ofstate.
It also revealed the "opacity, silence and poormanagement" in the handling of Vatican assets, prosecutorRoberto Zanotti said in his closing statements. A lack offinancial transparency and accountability has bedeviled theHoly See for centuries and been a top concern for Francis'reform-minded papacy.
And it shined further light on the finances of theBambino Gesu (Baby Jesus) hospital, which was the subject ofan Associated Press investigation earlier this year.
The AP uncovered a secret 2014 Vatican-authorized probethat found that the hospital's mission under the Profitiadministration had become "more aimed at profit" than patientcare.
After retiring in 2013, Bertone was assigned a 400 squaremeter (4,305 sq. feet), top-floor bachelor pad in theVatican-owned Palazzo San Carlo. The building sits on the edgeof the Vatican gardens, offers fabulous views of St. Peter'sBasilica and overlooks the Vatican hotel where Francis lives.
During the trial, the cardinal was shown to havepersonally engineered the unprecedented maneuver to get an oldfriend, Gianantonio Bandera, to do the renovation. Bertone'sproject jumped the queue for Vatican real estate repairs andavoided the normal external bidding process required for suchan expensive overhaul presumably because he promised to footthe bill himself.
While Bertone paid some 300,000 euros (USD 355,000) outof his own pocket, the hospital foundation also paid Bandera'sfirm 422,000 euros for the job.
In closing arguments today, defense lawyer AntonelloBlasi insisted there was no crime in using foundation money asan investment since Profiti intended to use Bertone'sapartment for fundraising events to benefit the hospital.
"Investing is not the same thing as spending," Blasi toldthe court.
Profiti, for his part, told the court the only reason theoperation didn't provide a return on the investment wasbecause the new administration that replaced his had a "newstyle of fundraising" and didn't use the apartment.
Even though Bertone never was charged, lawyersnevertheless came to his defense today. Pressured by the popeto vacate his apartment and assigned a "hovel" in need ofrepairs, the 82-year-old Bertone won't live long enough tojustify the money he put into it, said Alfredo Ottaviani, whorepresented the absolved Spina.
"He was the victim of the trial," Ottaviani told thecourt in closing arguments, adding that Bertone could haveavoided participating altogether but chose instead to write adetailed letter to the court laying out what transpired.
Neither the letter nor any of court documentation isavailable to the public.
In the end, Bandera's firm, Castelli Re, went bankrupt,and the hospital's 422,000 euros were sent instead to anotherBandera company located in Britain, Lg Contractors Ltd.
That was presumably the transaction that tripped up theVatican's financial regulators, who were called to testify attrial but declined to provide details, citing the need to keeptheir intelligence-gathering operations secret.
The only hint of a potential kickback involved a proposedsix-figure "donation" from Bandera to the hospital foundation.
Profiti said he "didn't exclude" that he had sought sucha donation, and Spina testified that he tried to get the moneyout of Bandera. Bandera, however, pleaded financial hardshipafter his company went bankrupt and never paid up.
Neither Bertone nor Bandera were indicted in the case,though it is possible prosecutors in the Vatican and Italy nowhave the evidence they need to mount a case against thebuilder over the allegation he got paid twice for the samework.
At the trial, Bandera testified that he never billedtwice for the works, though he acknowledged he was no longerfully in control of the company after it went bankrupt inearly 2014.
Bertone has insisted he knew nothing of the hospital'spayment. After the scandal came to light in late 2015, Bertonequickly made a 150,000 euro (USD 177,300) "donation" to thehospital. He insisted it wasn't a payback but a gesture ofgoodwill. (AP)EMY.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.