VATICAN (CNS): A former president of the Vatican bank, 78-year-old Angelo Caloia, and his attorney, 94-year-old Gabriele Liuzzo, are set to go on trial at the Vatican on March 15 on embezzling and money-laundering charges, Reuters reported.
 
The bank, officially known as the Institute for the Works of Religion, alleges that the former officials’ illegal conduct led to damages to the bank in excess of 50 million euros ($482.7 million), according to a press statement from the institute.
 
The two, along with a former general director, Lelio Scaletti, who has since died, have been under investigation since 2014 for activities carried out between 2001 and 2008, the statement said.
 
Reuters reported in December 2014 that the Vatican’s top prosecutor, Gian Piero Milano, had frozen millions of dollars in accounts held by the three men.
 
They were suspected of embezzling money while managing the sale of 29 buildings held by the Institute for the Works of Religion. The buyers of the properties were mainly Italian, Reuters said, after reviewing a copy of the order freezing the accounts.
 
In the order, Milano alleged that in the institute’s official books, the three men under-represented the proceeds from the real estate sales. They allegedly received, usually in cash, the difference between the real sale prices and the amount officially recorded, Reuters reported.