Former administrators of the Jesu Bambino Foundation indicted

The Holy See Press Office has issued a statement concerning indictments for embezzlement of funds from the Bambino Gesù Foundation, which exists to support the work of the Bambino Gesù Children’s Hospital.

Statement issued by the Holy See Press Office

regarding indictments for embezzlement of funds

The Vatican City State's Tribunal has served notice to the defendants and to their lawyers for referral to a court of law presented by the Office of the Promotor of Justice at the conclusion of the instructional phase of the ongoing proceedings regarding the embezzlement of funds from the Bambino Gesù Foundation and the subsequent Decree of Judgement, issued by the President of the Tribunal on 13 June 2017.

Request for referral to the court
Printed here is a part of the request, signed by the Promotor of Justice, Professor Gian Pietro Milano and by the Associate Promotor of Justice, Professor Roberto Zannotti:

The Promotor of Justice
in view of articles 353, 355 and 359, requests that the Excellent President of the Tribunal issue to:

Giuseppe Profiti, born in Catanzaro on 22 August 1961; and to
Massimo Spina, born in Piano di Sorrento on 29 June 1960

decrees citing the following offence:

Article 63, 168 of the penal code since in competition with each other, the first (Profiti) in his position of President of the Bambino Gesù Foundation and the second (Spina) in his position as Treasurer of the same Foundation, both of whom were acting as public officials, used illicit means for the benefit of the investor named Bandera, money belonging to the Bambino Gesù Foundation, money which was accessible to both of them due to their positions.  In particular, they were paid for completely non-institutional purposes, the sum of 422,005.15 Euros, funds which they used to carry out repairs to buildings belonging to the Governatorate, intended to function as a residence for the former Secretary of State and to benefit the company belonging to Gianantonio Bandera.

This crime was committed in the Vatican City between November 2013 and 28 May 2014.

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Judgement of referral
Following the request for referral to the court presented by the Promotor of Justice, the President of the Tribunal of the Vatican City, Professor Giuseppe Della Torre, issued the Decree in which he ordered the citation of Misters Giiuseppe Profiti and Massimo Spina and established the composition of the panel who will be responsible for pronouncing judgment in this case:

Professor Paolo Papanti-Pelletier, President;
Professor Venerando Marano, Judge; and
Professor Carlo Bonzano, Judge.

With his subsequent decree dated 16 June 2017, the President of the judicial college ordered the citation of Misters Profiti and Spina for their first hearing, which will be held on 18 July 2017 beginning at 10:00am, while warning that their hearing will not be considered should they not appear.  At the same time, he fixed the time of 12:30pm on 11 July 2017 as the deadline for submitting evidence to the defence, reserving the right to issue subsequent measures for the quotation of texts.