Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, a former senior Vatican accountant accused of scheming to smuggle €20m in cash into Italy from Switzerland, in a tax evasion scheme has been cleared of the charges leveled against him.
Italian Prosecutors claimed Mgr Scarano had planned to fly €20m in untaxed cash on a private jet from Switzerland to Italy.
His arrest had come as a shocking surprise to the Vatican, since he had worked for more than two years as the senior accountant at Apsa until his arrest in 2013 – the Vatican body that handles the Vatican’s extensive properties and investment portfolio.
Mgr Scarano was declared innocent of corruption and attempted money-smuggling at a court in Rome, however he was still convicted to serve a two-year suspended sentence for making false accusation against on of his co-defendants.
Prosecutors claimed a financial broker and a former intelligence agent were also allegedly involved in the scheme, but failed in their plans.
The Monsignor remains on trial in his home town of Salerno, in southern Italy,for money laundering in a separate proceeding.
