A high-ranking cardinal, sacked by Pope Francis in September 2020, is now one of 10 people who have been indicted by the Vatican on a number of charges, including money laundering and charity fund embezzlement of the Papal Foundation.

According to The Daily Beast, Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, former Vatican Secretary of State, is allegedly helped his biological brothers in a real estate transaction at the expense of his spiritual brothers.

Sloane Square in London, the property of 100 apartments at the center of the indictment, was reportedly “bought through creative accounting which siphoned off part of the Pope’s charity fund without the Pope’s approval.” The publication reports that some of the units were allegedly used by the clergy for their personal appointments.

In the hope of shedding light on the situation, Pope Francis raided the Vatican financial monitoring offices in Rome. He also brought in an anti-Mafia prosecutor to further investigate the alleged charity fund theft program.

In addition to Becciu, the 487-page indictment also names the brokers who made the business deal and details a number of allegations against four companies.

“The first activities carried out with letters rogatory in many foreign countries (United Arab Emirates, Great Britain, Jersey, Luxembourg, Slovenia, Switzerland) brought to light a vast network of relationships with financial market operators which generated substantial losses for the finances of the Vatican which also drew on these resources intended for the personal acts of charity of the Holy Father ”, indicates the indictment, summarized by Vatican News Service.

Becciu’s latest indictment follows earlier accusations that he funneled around $ 800,000 of the Pope’s charitable funding to “buy false testimony against Cardinal George Pell who was convicted and later acquitted of sexually abusing altar boys in Australia, “the publication reports.