FILE PHOTO: Cardinal Giovanni Angelo Becciu, who has been caught up in a real estate scandal, speaks to the media a day after he resigned suddenly and gave up his right to take part in an eventual conclave to elect a pope, near the Vatican, in Rome, Italy, September 25, 2020. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane/File Photo
ROME (Reuters) - Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the most senior Roman Catholic Church official ever to be tried by a Vatican criminal court, professed his innocence on Monday in his first public comments since being found guilty of embezzlement and fraud.
"I want to shout to the world that I am innocent, that I absolutely did not commit these crimes of which I am being accused," the 75-year-old said in an interview with Italian public television RAI.
Becciu said he hoped Pope Francis would believe him.
A recording of the interview, due to be aired later on Monday, was shared with journalists.
On Saturday, Vatican judges sentenced Becciu to 5-1/2 years in jail, but the cardinal, who said through his lawyers he would challenge the verdict, is not expected to go to prison while appeal proceedings are pending.
Nine other people were tried alongside the Italian cardinal in an unprecedented case for the Vatican. All were found guilty, at least on some charges, except for Becciu's former secretary, who was fully cleared.
The trial mostly centred on a botched real estate deal in central London, on which the Vatican took an estimated loss of about 140 million euros ($152.87 million) and on which it was fleeced, according to prosecutors, by several middlemen.
Becciu was also convicted in relation to payments made to companies or charities controlled by his brothers and for giving money to a self-styled security consultant who allegedly spent much of the funds on luxury items and health spas.
($1 = 0.9158 euro)
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini; editing by Jonathan Oatis)
