In the Curious Case of Roberto Calvi Part One it was established that the Italian banker had been murdered and did not commit suicide as the British authorities had originally ruled.

It was also confirmed that a private investigation which lasted 20 years eventually produces enough evidence to warrant a trial in the Italian courts for which five people stood accused. As all five defendants were acquitted it appears the trial was purely for show. However, some interesting facts did emerge from the courts that allows us to point the finger of guilt at the real criminals.

During the trial in Rome the prosecution claimed Calvi was murdered to prevent him from using blackmail. It is known Calvi left Rome with a black suitcase and was carrying over £7000 pounds in three different currencies, Italian lire, British pounds and Swiss francs, suggesting his final destination was Switzerland.

The suitcase was never recovered, but is thought to have carried sensitive information which implicated the Rothschild bank in Zurich of some raw financial dealings. When Calvi had been jailed in Lodi Prison he had summoned Magistrates to his cell in the dead of night and told them about the funding of ambiguous loans to political parties, in particular the Socialist Party.

The leader of the Socialist party at that time was Bettino Craxi - Italy's longest serving post-war Prime Minister. In 1993, Craxi fled to Tunisia in exile in order to avoid facing charges of bribery and corruption. The shocking scandal that hit Italy in the early 90´s almost brought the political classes to their knees and demonstrates that Craxi was not against financial fiddling.

Another man to be implicated in that scandal was Craxi's right hand man, Claudio Martelli. Martelli admitted a Swiss bank account was opened in his name in order to receive vast proceeds of corrupt money, including a £5m deposit made by Roberto Calvi on behalf of Licio Gelli, the Grandmaster of Blackfriars.

Judge Mario Almerighi, the Italian Sherlock Holmes, also discovered two letters addressed to the Vatican asking for 1.5 billion lire (about half a million pounds). The funds were for Flavio Carboni, the businessman who helped Calvi reach London. The payment was to acquire documents Calvi had in his possession. It is claimed that Carboni was seen handing a brown envelope to a Vatican official at Gatwick Airport the day after Calvi died. So it would appear Carboni did betray the banker and got away with it.

The second letter was written by Roberto Calvi and sent to the Vatican. The Vatican Bank was Banco Ambrosiano's main shareholder and Calvi had written to Pope John Paul II stating the collapse of Banco Ambrosiano “would provoke a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions in which the church will suffer the gravest damage.” After Ambrosiano went into insolvency the Vatican paid £125 million to its creditors, declaring it was for recognition of moral obligations, which when subtitled reads: Guilty.

During the trial it was found that much of the money used in the illegal transactions had been siphoned off through the Vatican Bank. Since the Vatican is a sovereign state it is exempt from Italian banking laws, allowing Calvi to take advantage of its privileged status and transfer money overseas.

So it would appear Calvi was merely a pawn in a complex and corrupt money embezzlement scam orchestrated by the most powerful figureheads in Italy in order to make illegal payments to rebel groups and dictators. When things went wrong, Calvi was the fall guy. No wonder the British authorities didn´t want to get involved.

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 Posted by vr_don on Oct 26, 2011 12:24 PM