The Vatican, the centre of power for Catholics and Catholicism worldwide, is again rocked by a sleazy scandal. News has emerged that a Vatican official offered the services of a prostitute to a businessman as a show of gratitude in the infamous £300 million deal to buy the landmark Chelsea block office in West London.
This information was given to the High Court in the United Kingdom.
As per the information that is available, Gianluigi Torzi, who served as the middleman in negotiations over the property earmarked for luxury flats, has since claimed that the Vatican lay official Fabrizio Tirabassi tried to thank him by offering a prostitute. Torzi says that he declined the offer.
Torzi, in written evidence to the Court also said that Tirabassi threatened him and the lives of his children.
The 42-year old businessman also claimed that Tirabassi boasted of blackmailing clergymen, after which he decided to report the matter to Pope Francis.
The judge in the London court had earlier slammed Vatican prosecutors for misrepresenting the investment into the real estate deal in front of the court. The judge reportedly wrote in his ruling: “I do not consider there is reasonable cause to believe that Mr. Torzi has benefited from criminal conduct”.
According to the Vatican, the home of the Catholic denomination was cheated to spend £300 million for the building in 2018 that had been sold for £129 million six years earlier. The accused Tirabassi, senior cleric Monsignor Alberto Perlasca and London financier Raffaello Mincione conspired to “fleece the church jurisdiction out of millions in fees in negotiations”.
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