Vatican, Tirabassi: “I was only an instrument, the Holy See’s agent for Palazzo Londra was Torzi”

“I was only an instrument. The agent of the Holy See in London was Gianluigi Torzi”. This is one of the key steps in the interrogation of Fabrizio Tirabassi, former employee of the administrative department of the Secretariat of State, accused in the trial before the Vatican Court for corruption, extortion, embezzlement, fraud, abuse of office relating to the sale of the London building. of Sloane Avenue, led by the Promoter of Justice Alessandro Diddi which does not end with today’s hearing but will continue on June 6 next. Tirabassi, questioned by Diddi, argued by providing his version of the facts that “Mons. Perlasca, in a sudden manner, authorized by Cardinal Angelo Becciu, pushed for this deal”. Tirabassi said that it was “Raffaele Mincione who proposed the purchase of the property as an appropriate investment. Becciu authorized them to continue”. The former employee of the administrative department of the Vatican Secretariat of State said that it was Enrico Crasso who “introduced Mincione for the operation then made through Credit Suisse.” Questioned by Diddi about the reason for such a high mortgage for the purchase of the ‘building on Sloane Avenue, Tirabassi replied: “It was in the autonomy of the manager, that is, of Mincione. I advised Mgr. Perlasca to hand over the whole situation to the lawyers, but at that time the situation was evolving. a favorable combination with Brexit and this alleviated the problems. The Palazzo had reevaluated. Perlasca never spoke to superiors about this aspect “. secretariat for the Economy through Cardinal Pell. To which, Tirabassi replied that “the Secretariat of State was not required to submit” the dossier “to the evaluation of the Secretariat for the Economy. During the interrogation there were several frictions between the prosecution and the defense with interventions by the President of the Pignatone Tribunal to recompose souls, and at one point one of Tirabassi’s defenders, that is the lawyer Massimo Bassi, denounced that “methods of carrying out the interrogation ‘for fishing'” and not pertinent to the charges. Tirabassi then said that “with Monsignor Perlasca there was a tense atmosphere aimed at muddying the waters.” Regarding the thousand shares with voting rights in the hands of Gianluigi Torzi, Tirabassi said: “We did not realize the diversity of the shares. They told me that they served Torzi as administrator of the palace and also as compensation. At this point Perlasca signed the agreement “.