11/21/2015 

Five indicted over Vatileaks scandal

Chaouqui and Vallejo Balda

The inquiry into the theft and publication of confidential documents belonging to the Holy See has come to an end: the new name is Nicola Maio, who had formerly worked for COSEA. He faces trial alongside Vallejo Balda and Chaouqui, as well as Nuzzi and Fittipaldi, who "put pressure on" Vallejo Balda

Domenico Agasso jr Vatican City
The Vatican judiciary has indicted five people after the inquiry into the theft and publication of confidential documents belonging to the Holy See was concluded, ANSA news agency has learnt.  Mgr. Lucio Vallejo Balda and Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui were arrested as part of the investigations. The two Italian journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi have also been committed for trial. They “requested and pushed for confidential documents and news to be passed onto them and then used some of this content to put together two books published in Italy” (“Merchants on the Temple” and "Avarice"). The fifth indicted party is Nicola Maio, former collaborator of the Pontifical Commission for Reference on the Organisation of the Economic-Administrative Structure of the Holy See (COSEA). Lucio Vallejo Balda and Chaouqui were also members of the Commission, the former holding the role of secretary. Maio was Vallejo Balda’s personal secretary.The trial will begin on Tuesday 24 November  at the Tribunal of the Vatican City State.

Vallejo Balda, Chaouqui and Maio are also charged with criminal conspiracy.

The individuals were indicted - in a document signed by the Promoter of Justice  Gian Pietro Milano and the Adjunct Promoter of Justice, Roberto Zannotti - for violating article 116 bis of the Vatican Criminal Code, in other words, the disclosure of confidential news and documents.

In a statement, the Holy See says that Vallejo Balda, Chaouqui and Maio will be asked to explain “why within the Prefecture for Economic Affairs and in COSEA, they grouped together forming an organised criminal partnership of an autonomous composition and structure, whose promoters were Ángel Lucio Vallejo Balda and Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui, with the aim of committing a series of crimes involving the publication of new news and documents relating to fundamental interests of the Holy See and the State.”
 
Furthermore, all the accused will need to be tried “because, acting in concert, Vallejo Balda, as  secretary general of the Prefecture for Economic Affairs, Chaouqui as a member of COSEA, Maio as Vallejo Balda’s collaborator on questions relating to COSEA, Fittipaldi and Nuzzi as journalists, illegitimately obtained and later revealed news and documents concerning fundamental interests of the Holy See and the State”; to be precise, Vallejo Balda, Chaouqui and Maio “obtained said pieces of news and documents within their own roles in the Prefecture for Economic Affairs and in COSEA, while Fittipaldi and Nuzzi requested and put pressure on Vallejo Balda in particular, to obtain confidential documents and news. They then used some of this content to put together two books published in Italy in November 2015.”


The offences were “committed in the Vatican City between March 2013 and 5 November 2015.”

Following the request for indiction issued by the Promoter of Justice, the President of the Tribunal and the Vatican City State, Giuseppe Dalla Torre, “issued a Decree establishing that on 24 November 2015, at 10:30, the first hearing in the trial faced by the indicted parties, warning them that if they fail to appear in court, they will be held guilty of contumacy. At the same time, he established that the judging college will be composed as such: Giuseppe Dalla Torre, President; Piero Antonio Bonner, Judge; Paolo Papanti-Pelletier, Judge; Venerando Marano, Substitute Judge. The Decree sets the deadline for submission of evidence in defence for 28 November 2015 at 12:30.”

The accused face between four to eight years in prison. At the moment, one of the alleged “moles”, Vallejo Balda, is still being detained in a cell in the Vatican Gendarmerie, while Francesca Chaouqui was immediately released following her arrest at the start of November, because she collaborated in the investigations.


Fr. Federico Lombardi, the Holy See spokesman, clarified: “Whether the accusations are proportionate, still needs to be evaluated, so for now all we have is a request, not a sentence.”