Pope Aide Lifted in ˆ20m Con

By Gary Meneely
Irish Sun
June 29, 2013

http://www.thesun.ie/irishsol/homepage/news/4989586/Pop-aide-lifted-in-20m-con.html

ONE of the Pope’s top moneymen was behind bars yesterday over an alleged bid to smuggle ˆ20million in cash across Europe.

Cops lifted Monsignor Nunzio Scarano on suspicion of fraud and corruption along with a financial adviser and an Italian secret service agent.

It’s claimed that the Vatican accountant, 61, who spent last night in a Rome prison, had been asked by wealthy pals to spirit in suitcases of money from Switzerland.

In phone calls tapped by police last July, he apparently offered the spook ˆ600,000 to fly the cash into Rome on a private jet, and use his spy skills to avoid customs checks. Chief investigator Nello Rossi said the plane was to have been met on the runway and the wads of notes taken under armed escort to Msgr Scarano’s home.

In the event, the operation was abandoned when the alleged conspirators — who include the money owners’ broker — got cold feet.

Magistrate Rossi revealed his team uncovered the plot while probing Msgr Scarano’s links to Vatican Bank money laundering.

Pope Francis recently ordered an internal investigation into the bank’s affairs after decades of scandals.

Scarano was suspended from his job last month when his superiors were alerted to the laundering allegations.