The opening of a file against Francesca Immacolata Chaouqui "seems to confirm what partly emerged during the trial. Already at the dawn of the investigation there was talk of plots against Cardinal Becciu to construct unfounded accusations against him".

Speaking are the lawyers Fabio Viglione and Maria Concetta Marzo, defenders of Cardinal Becciu , who comment on the opening of an investigation against Chaouqui.

"If at the beginning there was a climate of media pillorying that did not allow for any type of defense, then the truth began to emerge during the trial, highlighting a disconcerting plan of contamination that conditioned the investigation first and then the trial ", the lawyers continue.

Three charges are pending against Chaoqui . Influence peddling: she is accused of having received money from another witness to bribe, that is, influence and condition the main accuser of Cardinal Angelo Becciu, Monsignor Alberto Perlasca . The second charge is false testimony in court, the third is bribery, for having induced another witness to give false statements in the trial.

"Cardinal Becciu's innocence - the lawyers conclude - is fully supported by the evidence gathered in the trial, which has also been confirmed by the disturbing documents recently published by some media outlets. We hope that the truth will be reconstructed in depth and that full light will be shed on all the conduct of which the cardinal was a victim. Without forgetting that today, even the first-instance sentence, which we have already challenged, has certified that Cardinal Becciu has not appropriated 'even a cent'. He has always faithfully served the Holy See and for too long has unjustly suffered humiliations and distortions of his image".

Becciu was sentenced to 5 and a half years in the first instance trial on the Holy See funds invested in real estate deals in London. The start of the appeal trial is set for September 22 .

(Unioneonline/L)

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