Cecilia Marogna was arrested in Milan on the request of Vatican investigators
A glamorous Italian “intelligence expert” and confidante to a disgraced cardinal is to be extradited to the Vatican from Milan after being arrested by police, accused of spending lavish amounts of Holy See money on shoes, handbags and other luxury items.
Cecilia Marogna, 39, was arrested on an Interpol warrant in Milan on Tuesday night by Italy’s Guardia di Finanza finance police on suspicion of embezzling Vatican money, some of which came from the donations of the faithful.
The request to detain her was made by Vatican investigators, although it could take some time. It will be considered by a Milan court, with a decision expected to take several days, if not weeks. It is the first time that judges in Milan’s appeals court have been asked to consider an extradition to the Vatican, according to Ansa, Italy’s national news agency.
Ms Marogna has insisted she is an “intelligence expert” with close ties to the Italian secret services who set up a system of “parallel diplomacy” to protect Vatican embassies in the Middle East and Africa from terrorist attacks.
She has admitted to receiving €500,000 (£453,000) over four years from Cardinal Angelo Becciu, a senior figure in the Vatican hierarchy who was in charge of disbursing millions of euros in funds.
Angelo Becciu during the ceremony in which he was made a cardinal in 2018
Credit: Reuters
She has claimed she used the money to carry out “humanitarian operations” around the world on behalf of the Holy See and to help pay for the release of nuns and priests kidnapped by terrorist groups.
But investigators suspect she spent much of it on herself. The Italian press has obtained documents which allegedly show Ms Marogna spent €12,000 on a leather armchair, €2,200 on Prada clothes and accessories, €1,400 at the luxury shoemakers Tod’s and €8,000 at Chanel.
Ms Marogna conceded to Corriere della Sera newspaper that she may have bought herself a leather armchair with the money, but said she felt she deserved it.
She also admitted she had bought at least one handbag with Vatican funds, but said it was a gift.
“It was for the wife of a Nigerian friend who was able to put me in touch with the president of Burkina Faso,” she said. The money was paid to her through a company she set up in Slovenia.
Ms Marogna has strongly denied suggestions in the press that she was the lover of the cardinal, who was number two in the Vatican Secretariat of State and effectively deputy interior minister.
In as statement last week, the cardinal said his relations with Ms Marogna “strictly pertained to institutional affairs.”
Describing herself a “political analyst and intelligence expert”, she said she first met the cardinal in 2015 in Rome. She comes from Sardinia, as does the cardinal.
He was forced to resign last month after Pope Francis said he no longer had faith in him.
The cardinal told a press conference that the pope had accused him of misappropriation of funds.
The cardinal is accused of losing the Vatican millions of euros in a property deal in London, in which the Holy See bought a former Harrods showroom in Chelsea with the intention of turning it into luxury flats.
Huge fees were paid to the middlemen who brokered the deal, in what the brokers say was a legitimate commercial transaction.
He is also accused of funneling donations and contracts to charities and companies owned by his three brothers. He strenuously denies all the charges and says he is mystified as to why he was sacked by the Pope.
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