Australian police are investigating a large sum of money allegedly transferred to Australia by a rival of Cardinal George Pell with the aim of having him convicted in a pedophilia case.
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In early October, an Italian daily revealed that 700,000 euros would have been transferred to Australia in order to gather evidence against the former Vatican secretary of the economy, who was finally acquitted in April.
A spokeswoman for the Federal Police confirmed on Wednesday (October 21) that information relating to the charges had been passed on to the anti-corruption body in the state of Victoria, home to Melbourne, the city from which Pell was archbishop.
A rivalry at the origin of a conspiracy?
In early October, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera had claimed that Giovanni Angelo Becciu, a rival of the Australian cardinal in the Vatican, would be at the origin of a plot to slander the Australian cardinal.
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At the end of September, Bishop Becciu, who was one of the Vatican's most influential cardinals, was dismissed by Pope Francis on suspicion of “
embezzlement
” in favor of his family.
He firmly denied any interference in Cardinal Pell's trial.
The 79-year-old former secretary of the economy of the Holy See was convicted in December 2018 of sexual assault on two altar boys in 1996 and 1997 in Melbourne Cathedral of which he was archbishop .
In April, the prelate, who has always denied the charges, was acquitted on appeal by Australia's highest court.
The cardinal is still the subject of a civil action, still facing a civil action brought by the father of a former altar boy who died in 2014.
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Australian Police Release 2016 Cardinal Pell Interrogation
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