Becciu's lawyers allege new interference as Rome prosecutors move to close Chaouqui case

Prosecutors in Rome have asked for the case against Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui to be shelved. She was accused of interfering in the Vatican investigations that led to the first-instance conviction of Cardinal Angelo Becciu and nine other defendants. Becciu's lawyers have rejected the idea that the request settles the matter and said publicly that the documents filed by prosecutors contain new material that will feed further court action.

The cardinal is represented by Massimo Bassi, Gian Domenico Caiazza, Cataldo Intrieri, Luigi Panella, Fabio Viglione and Andrea Zappalà. In a joint statement they said the case file deposited by prosecutors had revealed "new and disconcerting facts" that will be the subject of further legal action.

The team is also weighing a challenge to the request to shelve the case. The lawyers said the request does not rest on a finding that the reported conduct did not happen, but on procedural obstacles. They cited the absence of the formal complaint required to prosecute fraud and the lack of Italian criminal jurisdiction over other conduct.

The interference allegations

A central part of the file concerns statements given to Rome prosecutors by Genoveffa Ciferri, a pensioner who previously worked at Italy's Department of Information for Security (DIS). Ciferri is a close friend of the family of Msgr. Alberto Perlasca, the main prosecution witness in the trial over the management of Holy See funds.

By her own account, Ciferri learned from press reports that Becciu had filed a complaint seeking to establish whether Chaouqui had collaborated with Vatican investigators. The events described date back to 2020, while the inquiries that led to the Vatican's large financial trial were under way.

According to the file, Chaouqui used Ciferri as an intermediary to draw information out of Perlasca. Ciferri acknowledged that she never told Perlasca who was really behind those conversations, because she knew he would never have accepted such contact given Chaouqui's reputation inside the Vatican. To keep up the deception, Ciferri said, Chaouqui herself suggested that she attribute the questions to a fictitious source: an elderly retired magistrate who was working with the Vatican investigators.

Over time, and with the chats on her phone to support it, Ciferri has acknowledged that she was manipulated, explaining that Chaouqui "asked me questions that I passed on to Perlasca, and he answered." Only after testifying in court did she tell Perlasca what role Chaouqui had played in those exchanges.

The money

Ciferri told prosecutors she handed Chaouqui about 15,000 euros in cash, taken from her own savings, through her friend Paolo Lancia, who was a mayor at the time. The money was taken to Chaouqui's office in Rome along with several Christmas gifts: a cameo, a bracelet and a necklace. Ciferri could not say whether the delivery took place in December 2020 or in 2021, though she recalled that it coincided with a search of Chaouqui's offices by the Guardia di Finanza, Italy's financial police. She said the payment was a loan Chaouqui had asked for, and that she never sought repayment.

The dinner at Lo Scarpone

Also in the file is a dinner at the Rome restaurant Lo Scarpone, which had already come up during the Vatican trial. According to Ciferri, Chaouqui arranged the meeting, assuring her that Vatican investigators knew about it and saying that even the pope was aware of the evening. Perlasca was initially reluctant to attend and, according to Ciferri, received instructions through her that Chaouqui presented as coming from the investigators and from the pope.

Ciferri also said that Perlasca informed the pope in writing that he had taken part in the dinner and that, at Chaouqui's request, he later wrote a report intended first for the pope and then for Chaouqui herself. Ciferri said she found Chaouqui credible partly because of her ties to Vatican circles. Chaouqui lived in a building belonging to APSA, the office that administers the Holy See's property, and during the period of the investigations she was said to have moved period furniture from a Vatican storehouse into her home.

What happens next

The case now sits with the Vatican Court of Appeal, which is due to resume hearings at the end of October.