VATICAN CITY — A Vatican cleric and two other people were arrested yesterday by Italian police for allegedly trying to smuggle 20 million euros in cash, or $26 million, into the country from Switzerland by private jet.
Monsignor Nunzio Scarano, already under investigation in a purported money-laundering scheme involving the Vatican bank, is accused of corruption and slander in the latest plot, and was being held at a Rome prison, prosecutor Nello Rossi said.
The arrest of Scarano, a recently suspended accountant in the Vatican’s finance office, came two days after Pope Francis created a commission to investigate the secretive Vatican bank’s activities.
Also arrested were Italian financier Giovanni Carenzio and Giovanni Zito, who was a member of the military police.
Rossi detailed a remarkable plot, uncovered by phone taps, in which the three allegedly planned to bring into Italy 20 million euros that Carenzio had held in a Swiss bank account without paying customs at the airport.
Scarano’s attorney, Silverio Sica, said his client was a middleman. The euros, he said, belonged to friends who had given the money to Carenzio to invest but wanted it back.
Rossi identified the friends as members of the Italian shipping family d’Amico. An e-mail seeking comment from the family wasn’t returned.
Prosecutors say that last year, Zito flew with Carenzio to Lucerne, Switzerland, where Carenzio was to withdraw the cash for Zito to bring to Italy. It would be brought to Scarano in Rome, Rossi said.
The deal fell through, Rossi said, but Zito still demanded his fee of $780,000 from Scarano, who cut him a check for $520,000, which he deposited. Scarano gave him a second for $260,000, but reported it missing to keep it from being deposited, Rossi said. As a result, he was accused of slander for filing a false report.
All three men are accused of corruption. If convicted, they could face up to six years in prison.
Sica said Scarano had no comment on the charges.
The Vatican bank, called the Institute for Religious Works, or IOR, is cooperating with Italian authorities, a spokesman said.
Rossi is also working with prosecutors in Salerno on a money-laundering probe involving Scarano and his IOR account.
The Vatican said it was taking appropriate measures with the case.