In London Gabbato the Saint. Super financial loss for the Vatican
Even God's highest authority on Earth has problems with the simplest investment precept: buy a property cheap and sell it high. After a scandal that dragged on for more than a year and led to the dismissal of one of the highest officials of the Holy See, Cardinal Becciu, for a series of high-loss investments made in the British market, the Vatican has finally decided a painful cut by selling luxury office building in London's Knightsbridge neighborhood, all at a loss of £ 100 million ($ 135 million. 115 million euo).
According to the FT , the Vatican is in the final stages of the sale of 60 Sloane Ave., a large building in London's Knightsbridge neighborhood, for around £ 200 million ($ 271 million) to private equity group Bain Capital. Bain Capital and Savills, who manages the sale, both declined to comment.
Senior officials of the Holy See – including Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, the second in command of the powerful Vatican Secretariat of State – have invested a total of 350 million euros (405 million dollars) in money donated to the Catholic Church for charities in London properties, including the Sloane Ave Building between 2014 and 2018. Vatican investigators say the money was taken from Peter's Pence, an annual donation from Catholics around the world which, according to the Vatican, is destined "for the multiple needs of the universal Church and for the aid of the most needy". At one point, the Vatican had a plan to convert the London building into luxury apartments. The building, on the other hand, ended up at the center of a scandal that forced the Vatican to completely review the way it manages its finances.
Late last year, Pope Francis stripped the powerful Vatican central administration office of an investment portfolio worth hundreds of millions of euros including donations from 1.2 billion Catholics around the world. Several real estate agents who spoke to the FT expressed surprise at the losses generated by the deal. "I couldn't understand how [the Vatican] lost money on the housing market," said an agent with decades of experience in the London office market. Whatever emerged during the deal appears to have reached the level of Godfather series obscurity, as Vatican prosecutors accused a former Italian banker of offenses including embezzlement and fraud.
Vatican prosecutors recently dropped charges against the banker and a small group of alleged conspirators including a cardinal. The prosecution is now in a state of legal limbo. Vatican prosecutors earlier this year accused Raffaele Mincione, a former Italian banker, of various crimes including fraud and embezzlement. The Mincione companies acquired the London building in 2012 for 129 million pounds. Two years later a Vatican unit handling charitable donations bought a stake in the property through an investment fund founded by Mincione with a much higher valuation. The Vatican acquired the rest of the building in 2018. Vatican prosecutors say the Mincione companies would have made a large profit from the investment in the Knightsbridge building, but if they did, whoever had to check in the Vatican did a lot of harm. your work. The businessman denied any wrongdoing, stating that the increase in the value of the property was justified by audited and independent third-party consultants. He also said the Vatican has always been advised by its own investment banks. Vatican criminal proceedings against Mincione and others, including a cardinal, were suspended last month and the charges against the accused were dropped after the Vatican judge asked prosecutors to provide further evidence to defense lawyers. Lawyers acting for Mincione said the lifting of the charges means that the case against him in the Vatican court is legally and, in fact, "null and void." Mincione, the banker, saw nearly 50 million euros of his assets frozen in Switzerland at the request of the Vatican. Meanwhile, Mincione's lawyers are trying to push a parallel case in the English High Court to try to unlock the assets. He claims Vatican officials are responsible for the loss, while prosecutors say the loss was the result of fraud. Indeed, the defrauded was condescending, or very fooled!
Whatever really happened, one thing is clear: more than $ 100 million for the various ministries and missions of the Catholic Church has been stolen by greedy bankers and officials. And it looks like a handful of private equity firms will eventually benefit. In the face of Pope Francis ..
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The article In London Gabbato lo Santo. Super financial loss for the Vatican comes from ScenariEconomici.it .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/a-londra-gabbato-lo-santo-super-perdita-finanziaria-per-il-vaticano/ on Wed, 10 Nov 2021 19:06:46 +0000.