ITALY
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Vatican City, 3 Dec. (AKI) – High-ranking Vatican cleric Monsignor Nunzio Scarano went on trial in Italy on Tuesday accused of corruption and slander over a 20 million euro smuggling plot.
A court in Rome said witnesses from the prosecution would be heard on 13 December .
Scarano, Vatican accountant, was arrested on 28 June together with Italian policeman and former secret service agent, Giovanni Maria Zito, and financial broker Giovanni Carenzio over the alleged smuggling plot.
All three suspects are accused of attempting to smuggle the cash to Italy from Switzerland on a private jet on behalf of wealthy ship owners from Naples.
Scarano allegedly paid a 400,000 euro bribe in the alleged plot which went awry when Carenzio failed to show up with the money that had been entrusted to him.
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