Prosecutor concedes mistakes, makes offer in Vatican trial

The Vatican prosecutor has conceded procedural errors in his fraud and corruption investigation into the Holy See’s finances and is offering to remedy them by essentially starting over

VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican prosecutor conceded procedural errors Tuesday in his fraud and corruption investigation into the Holy See's finances and offered to remedy them by essentially starting over, throwing the trial of 10 people into question before it really got off the ground.

The president of the Vatican's tribunal, Judge Giuseppe Pignatone, plans to rule Wednesday whether or how the trial involving the Holy See's 350 million-euro investment in a London property can proceed after the defense argued the prosecution's mistakes were so grave as to render the indictment void.

Prosecutor Alessandro Diddi made the surprise offer to take back all the evidence and to re-question the defendants at the start of the second hearing of a trial that opened in July. Diddi said his office has always acted to ensure that the rights of the accused were respected and called his proposal a “common sense” way to address the defense objections.

Lawyers for the 10 defendants have accused Diddi’s office of withholding key pieces of evidence from them and not interrogating suspects during the investigative phase about all the accusations that ended up in the indictment. They maintain those and other alleged procedural errors have badly harmed their right to a fair trial and ability to mount a defense.