Senior Vatican cleric accused of lying to court in London lawsuit

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A top Catholic Church official has appeared at a foreign court in a rare and tumultuous setting to defend the Vatican over a botched UK property deal that cost the Vatican more than £100m.

Pope Francis’ chief of staff, Archbishop Edgar Peña Parra, clashed in London’s High Court on Thursday in a civil case brought by Raffaele Mincione, a financier who was found guilty by a Vatican court of embezzlement and money laundering over his role in a controversial deal.

The archbishop, who had sworn an oath on the Bible to tell the truth, was at one point accused during questioning by Mincione’s attorney, Charles Samek KC, of lying to the court about the details of the invoice — a suggestion Peña Parra rejected.

The Holy See has traditionally invoked the principle of sovereign immunity to avoid participation in foreign legal proceedings, including those involving financial scandals in Italy in the 1980s and child sexual abuse cases in various countries in recent years.

However, Peña Parra, dressed in a black cassock and collar, testified in a case brought by Mincione, who wants a London court to rule that he acted in “good faith” in his contacts with the Vatican in an attempt to clear his name. He was sentenced to five and a half years in prison by a Vatican court, but he never served a prison sentence and lives in London.

The Vatican made a loss of more than £100m in 2022 when it sold the former Harrods warehouse in London’s Chelsea, having spent more than €350m to acquire it between 2014 and 2018. The move prompted the church to review how it manages its finances.

Mincione was one of seven defendants — including one of the Vatican’s most influential former officials, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu — convicted in December by a Vatican court in a landmark trial for their roles in the deal.

Peña Parra, a former Vatican diplomat, told the Supreme Court on Thursday that he had never heard of the problematic investment until he took up his new position in October 2018, replacing Becciu as head of the Vatican’s general administration.

Later, however, he authorized important steps to be taken to have the Vatican withdraw from the building.

This included approving further purchases of shares for the Vatican. However, shortly after the purchase, he discovered that the company that owned the Chelsea building had previously been restructured, leaving the Holy See with non-voting shares.

Meanwhile, another businessman, Gianluigi Torzi, still held voting shares that gave him effective control over the estate and for that reason he also had to be bought out, according to a written statement the archbishop submitted to the court.

Although the Vatican eventually bailed out Torzi for around £15m, the businessman was convicted at a Vatican trial last year of extortion, fraud and money laundering and sentenced to six years in prison for his role in the deal.

Samek questioned Peña Parra, 64, about the Vatican’s links with Torzi, asking him why one of the payments to him was not mentioned in an “information note” prepared for Vatican authorities.

Peña Parra responded that the document was not intended to be a comprehensive account, adding that the pope had been informed. “I see the Holy Father every Tuesday,” he said.

Mincione, who attended the trial, had previously been questioned during the property valuation proceedings. He was accused by Vatican lawyer Charles Hollander KC of distorting its value for his own benefit.

Mincione rejected the suggestion and denies any wrongdoing. He said the property’s value had been justified by independent auditors and outside consultants.

The case has a sequel.