Silvio Berluscon's brother Paolo is under investigation by Rome prosecutors for suspected embezzlement in a Terni probe involving Vatileaks 2 defendant Francesca Chaouqui and her husband Corrado Lanino in connection with the sale of San Girolamo castle at Narni, judicial sources said Tuesday.
According to Corriere della Sera, Chaouqui allegedly promised the younger Berlusconi to act on judicial requests to the Vatican regarding Silvio Berlusconi.
Chaouqui is among five defendants in the Vatileaks 2 trial
in the Vatican.
Earlier Tuesday a lawyer acting for Silvio Berlusconi
denied newspaper reports that Chaouqui had contacted the former
premier or Paolo in relation to the case.
"Premier Berlusconi has never had any contact with
Francesca Chaouqui, or indications from anyone, of requests made
by her," Niccolò Ghedini said in a statement.
"Besides, it would have been impossible to make demands
since there is no possible link between Premier Berlusconi and
'Vatican affairs' or the Vatican bank," he continued.
In regards to Paolo Berlusconi, Ghedini acknowledged that
he had met Chaouqui "occasionally" in social situations, but
said the reports of contacts in relation to Vatileaks 2 were
"unfounded".
Chaouqui, a PR expert, is on trial alongside investigative
journalists Gianluigi Nuzzi and Emiliano Fittipaldi, Monsignor
Lucio Angel Vallejo Balda and his former assistant Nicola Maio
for allegedly leaking confidential Holy See documents.
Vallejo Balda and Chaouqui were both members of the
now-defunct COSEA commission set up to advise Pope Francis on
reform of the Holy See's economic-administrative structure.
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