The businessman at the heart of the Vatican’s £300m Chelsea property scandal was allegedly offered a call girl to sweeten the deal.
The claims about the Vatican’s foray into the prime London property market appear in a judgment published this week that lifted freezing orders on Gianluigi Torzi’s bank accounts that were imposed at the Vatican’s request.
Torzi claimed that Fabrizio Tirabassi, a senior lay official involved in the acquisition of 60 Sloane Avenue, also threatened his life and openly boasted of blackmailing senior clergymen in Rome.
The Vatican believes that it was cheated by Torzi when it paid £300m for the building in 2018 and claims that the property fetched £129m in 2012.
The judge pointed out that the Vatican failed to mention that the value had risen sharply after planning permission for residential use was granted.
